Grimm Royalty
by AlfyreGree
Summary: This dude has hardcore grimm powers plus ninja skills cause why not, and he'll maybe have harem we'll see, either way their will be smoochin. reveiws are nice, they feed me ego, and like a dog doing tricks for treats it will encourage me to write more, except for stupid flames i hate spicy foods
1. Chapter 1

**BLOOD AND GORE WARNING. IT GETS KINDA CRAZY SORRY**

Third Person POV

It was a quiet night in Vacuo. Then again, it's usually quiet in the vast desert. However, tonight the silence was broken by the whining of a bullhead engine.

A high-class nonmilitary vessel hovered over the sandy wastelands, as the side door slid open, revealing the dark silhouette of man, his features indistinguishable. In his arms was a tiny bundle of joy. A healthy baby boy, giggled in the man's arms and tried to reach out to his face playfully. His hair a strange shining silver color, as if each strand was spun from the metal itself, and eyes a brilliant purple. He was truly an extraordinary boy.

The man dropped him from the bullhead, letting him fall to the desert ground below before signaling the driver to fly away.

As the bullhead flew back to wherever it came from. The baby continued to fly towards the earth below, blissfully ignorant of its imminent demise. As it enjoyed the weightless feeling it was experiencing.

Closer and closer he came to the ground, until finally, right as he was about to hit the ground…nothing happened.

The baby hit the sand with a wet _crunch,_ somehow by some horrific miracle managing not to turn into a pile of red mush, and opting instead to turn into a fleshy sack of shattered bones somehow still breathing.

This child couldn't have been more than a few months old, yet already it knew, pain most grown men couldn't possibly imagine. It could do nothing but lay there, not even developed enough to wish for death.

This continued for a couple hours, somehow the baby continued its shattered, agonizing existence until the sun rose, and with it, the creatures of Grimm that ruled the Desert.

Namely, King Taijitu. This desert was filled with a unique breed that while much smaller in size, made up for it with much deadlier venom, and mind-blowing speed. They usually rested just under the sand in a hibernation like state until creatures of light came a long for them to prey on.

Unfortunately for the few that rose to inspect the new scent of prey, they were met by a dying heap of a child, now blessedly unconscious as its life trickled away. Never had they seen a creature so pathetic, they almost wanted to kill him out of mercy, but you know mostly fun.

They didn't get the chance however, as the child suddenly let out a long exhale, its final breath. The Grimm could tell it was dead, and started burrowing back into the sand to wait for the next prey. However, their attention was recaptured by a strange squishing sound.

They looked back at the body to see that it was somehow moving again, or rather, something inside it was moving. None of the serpents moved as the watched a small silver claw suddenly erupt from the chest of the infant body. it was followed by nine others before the two clawed hands began pulling apart the skin.

The serpents watched with horrified interest as something crawled out of the child's corpse. It ripped and tore through the body until it was able to free itself, resulting in a lot of blood, both on the ground and covering the creature. When it finally pulled itself completely out of the body, the Grimm were to surprise to see a young Beowolf. Only, instead of a white and red mask, it was silver and purple, with the same black fur. It was about the size of the infant it crawled out of.

It shook itself off, splattering blood everywhere, even on a few of the Grimm, but they didn't mind. They were extremely curious about this new creature. It smelled like one of them but with a little something extra added.

One of them cautiously slithered forward, hoping to get a better look. This was a mistake. The Beowolf suddenly lashed out, catching the stunned Taijitu by the neck before snapping it in its jaws.

As the silver faced Grimm began snacking on the snake, the others quickly fled, not knowing what to do in that situation. Grimm don't eat another Grimm, it just didn't happen.

Soon the creature was full and alone once again. It sniffed around for something. Apparently not finding it, it took off in a run away from the horrific scene, out across the barren desert, it's destination: not even known by it.

 **Several Days Later**

Ryo Belladonna was trudging through the Vacuon desert, cat ears flat against his now shaggy head. In his right hand was his coat folded up. A purple leather trench coat wasn't exactly something you wore in such sweltering heat. He was left in a simple pair of pants and a t-shirt. His Katana rested on his side, hopefully sending a clear message to any potential bandits.

Ryo was having a bad week. Up until recently, he had served with his sister and her Fiancé in the White Fang, serving predominately as a bodyguard for the couple against any particularly rowdy anti Faunus individuals. He was really good at it too. The Belladonna family traditionally trains each man (with the exception of Ghira, but the big softy married in to the name. he just can't say no to Khali) in martial arts, weapons expertise, and above all aura control. He was trained to be one with the shadows, protecting others without them ever knowing he was there.

He used these skills to protect his family, that was until a few days ago, he received a note on his door step. It held a picture of his favorite niece Blake playing on some swings, and in dark red letter read _Leave Menagerie, or she will pay the price._

Of course, he didn't think much of it. He didn't think it was fake or anything, but surely anyone who tried to hurt her wouldn't get past him right? With that thought in mind he stayed extra close to Blake for a few days, not that she minded, as she loved playing with her Uncle Ryo, only for nothing to happen. Until two days ago. He was watching her on the playground, laughing gleefully, when she suddenly froze. All of Ryo's senses screamed danger, but he couldn't tell where.

Until the bullet wound on Blake's shoulder started seeping blood.

After he drove her to the hospital and her parents arrived, he hurried back to his home, as far from her as possible. Whoever shot her shot far enough away that Ryo couldn't detect them and used a silencer. When he arrived at home he found another note on his doorstep. With a picture of Blake in her hospital room. _She doesn't have to die. Leave and never return, or the next shot goes through her skull._

That settled it for Ryo. The next day, he was on a Bullhead heading as far away from Menagerie as possible.

He set down in Vale and started the journey to the settlement of Vacuo. He hoped it was true what he heard about it. Apparently, they welcomed anyone who survived the journey.

He was making good time, despite the constant attacks form the Taijitu. He dealt with them all with ease. His reflexes were trained to be faster than any Grimm.

It was while he was trudging through the sand, almost panting from the heat that he heard it. A howl of a young Beowolf, more specifically a very small Beowolf.

He sped up towards the noise. Beowolves were not native to the desert of Vacuo, there shouldn't be any, if anything he would take care of it for any other travelers in the future.

What he didn't expect to find was a Beowolf no larger than a child laying on its side. It looked… starved. Which didn't make sense, Grimm fed on negative emotions, they didn't need physical food, they never starved. Yet this one looked like its body had begun to digest itself, its bones were practically sticking out.

As he drew closer he noticed other things, instead of the regular white bone mask, it seemed to be colored silver, with purple eyes instead of red. As he looked even closer at this fascinating discovery, the creature let out a final breath, it had starved to death.

Unfortunately for it, the Taijitu had quickly wizened up to its presence, and avoided it where ever it went, offering it no food. Ryo didn't know its eating preferences however. He was more interested in what was happening before his eyes.

Like all Grimm, it was dissolving after death. But unlike others. This one was leaving something behind. It was a small pale child, with silver hair just like the creature's mask, and it was not happy.

It was crying loudly like any baby would, but what Ryo noticed was that it was shivering violently as if it were cold. How could anything be cold in this desert?

Now, Ryo was no fool. This child was not simply eaten by the Grimm, he had emerged from its decaying corpse. That was not natural. A small part of Ryo's brain was telling him to end the obviously unholy being in front of him. However, the rest of it was doing the same thing every other brain does when they see a baby such as him: falling head over heels in love with his adorable face.

He gently reached down to touch the shivering child, who instinctively wrapped his arms around the warm hand in front of him. Ryo felt any animosity towards the baby fall away.

He scooped the child up in his arm. "Hey there little guy. What are you doing out here? And why the fuck did you come out of a Grimm?" he made sure to keep his smile as he said that last part, not wanting the child to detect any negative thoughts. The child opened his eyes to reveal brilliant purple irises looking at him curiously, it was official. Ryo was going to take care of this child for as long as he needed him.

However, the child's shivering still remained, despite being wrapped in Ryo's arms. NOT KNOWING WHAT ELSE TO DO, Ryo tried wrapping the child in the only fabric he wasn't wearing. As soon as the leather coat was wrapped around the boy, his tears ended and he smiled contentedly, soon drifting to sleep. As Ryo held him.

Ryo stood up, looking around him and seemingly realizing once again where he was.

"I have to get you out of this desert"

He had planned on conserving his aura on the trip across the desert, not knowing if he will have a friendly welcome, but now he knew that the child wouldn't last that long.

He held the baby securely to his chest, he got in a running stance taking deep breaths as he reached internally for his aura. He then took advantage of the skills he was taught to channel his aura into his legs, before taking off in a blaze of speed.

He tore across the dessert, reaching speeds even Creeps couldn't hope to reach. As he blew by, a couple Taijitu raised their heads out of the sands to see what happened, but none were fast enough to launch an attack.

He ran for several hours, his stamina not dropping in the slightest as he used his own aura to power his legs.

He soon caught a glimpse of stonework in the distance. There was the city. There was this child's salvation. And there was Ryo's new life.

He looked down at the child in his arm. No, this was his new life. And he needed a name. as he looked at the adorable face in his arms, the child's eyes opened again. And Ryo new his name.

"Good morning, Royal."

 **6 years later.**

Ryo and his new charge were accepted into Vacuo, thankfully enough. Soon after entering the city, Ryo used what little Lien he had to rent a room. He wanted the child to experience at least one night of comfort before what was inevitably to come.

He couldn't put him in an orphanage. Not just because of some silly connection he feels though, whatever it was that caused the child to emerge from the Grimm, it might follow him in life. If something happened, no one would understand, hell Ryo doesn't understand, so he needed to keep him close.

Unfortunately, after he spent the money for the hotel, he had none left. He was in too much in a hurry to get out of Menagerie. His first instinct was to take to the woods, he could survive there easily. But this was a fucking desert. All the foliage resided in the city. He was forced to take care of the child on the streets until he could make enough money for something better.

He took care of him mainly via begging, an act that his pride did not escape unblemished, but he kept in mind who it was for. Many were gracious enough to help out the man and child. Enough to feed them both for a few months.

Eventually though the child grew into a toddler, and the toddler grew into a boy. This was both a blessing and a curse. It was bad because Ryo lost his best asset in begging, but it was mostly good, as Ryo was finally able to go through with his original plan to make money: Hunter jobs.

Now that Royal was big enough to run, jump and call for help intelligently, he was ready to accompany Ryo on the jobs. Of course, Ryo didn't trust him enough to leave him on his own.

Royal, having grown up in a less than wealthy lack of household, was quite slim, but in no way scrawny. Ryo already had him doing daily exercises to stay in shape, whether he liked it or not. His originally pale skin had tanned quite a bit from the sun. His brilliant silver was now long and shaggy, hanging below his ears. It was a bit too brilliant for life on the streets, as other homeless would eye it as if they could sell it as real silver. However, as soon as he had mobility, Royal would run away from every haircut. He either couldn't or wouldn't explain why he hated them so much, but eventually Ryo compromised and had him hide his hair in a sun hat he found., His face was for lack of a better word, mischievous. He had an unending sense of humor, despite his situation, but Ryo figured it was because it's all he ever knew. A feature most wouldn't notice though, was the slight elongation of his canines. Ryo was a bit disconcerted by this, but never mentioned anything.

A problem however, was that his shivering never ceased. Even today as a six-year-old, if he wasn't wearing two or more layers he claimed he felt too exposed, like he was missing a layer of skin. Ryo went out of his way to clothe him, skipping a few meals every now in then to buy jackets. However, he noticed Royal always had an eye for Ryo's beloved purple Coat, despite the obvious size difference. He'd even steal it during the night occasionally and wrap himself up in it. Ryo found it adorable.

Today Ryo held Royal up on his shoulders as he walked to a residence on the edge of town. He had gotten a job to clear out a taijitu infestation, which was practically all there ever was in Vacuo. And whenever something that paid better came around, someone always got it first. However, Ryo didn't complain, he was now making a lot more Lien then he had with begging.

Royal was happy as well, but for different reasons. "You'll see Ryo! I'm going to kill twice as many Taijitu as you! then I'll start getting my own jobs!"

Ryo chuckled, "As much as I would enjoy double the income, you're still way too young for hunting, you're going to sit outside and wait patiently, and more importantly, safely. Understood?"

Royal pouted, "I would be ready if you would start training me…"

Ryo groaned, "We are not starting this again! First of all, you don't even know if you really want to do this for the rest of your life, you can't you're six! Second of all: I'm not putting you through what I was put through, especially at your age!"

Royal whined "Why noooot? I want to be strong like you! you and I both know there isn't a hunter in this town that could beat you in a fight!"

Ryo smirked, "Maybe, but its best they don't know that Roy. Look we're here. Stay out here, and if you're good, I might start teaching you knife throwing soon."

Royal's eyes widened comically, "Really?"

"Maybe. Now stay put." The man ordered. He set the boy down under a tree in front of his client's house. The boy eagerly sat down in a rigid manner, making Ryo chuckle as he turned away with a swish of his coat.

Ryo opened the door to his house to reveal several dozen Taijitu on the floor, all of whom looked at him at once. He grinned, choosing to go for his second favorite weapon, a kunai knife he kept hidden in his coat.

"Let's dance."

He suddenly shot out his hand, throwing the weapon at one of the snakes. It flew like a bullet, instantly separating the head from the body. the others didn't worry too much about this however. The human had just deprived itself of its weapon. Several lunged at once, confident one of them would make the killing strike.

To their surprise however, before they could reach him, he suddenly yanked back his hand, as the knife seemingly flew out the Grimm corpse, back to his hand, just in time for him to become a blur of movement, resulting in several sliced up Taijitu to hit the ground behind him.

This was a special Aura technique that Ryo had perfected in his youth, called Aura String. He sends out a thread of his aura to attach to the knife, and with it he pulls back the knife to his hand. Due to the size of the thread, most people can't even see it.

Using this technique, he beheaded one serpent after another, pulling back the knife and throwing again. Occasionally some would get close but they didn't last long.

He eventually cleared the room. Nothing remained…. except for the one that escaped out the front door behind him, only to spot a young boy, sitting straight, with barely contained excitement.

Ryo exited the house just in time to see the serpents head rearing back behind Royal, who, bless his heart, was sitting exactly where Ryo told him to.

Royal was looking at him with pride, he only just realized the alarm in Ryo's face before he felt the Taijitu's fangs sink into his neck.

Ryo was there in an instant, a knife in the snake, and a mouth on the boy's neck, desperately trying to suck out the poison. But it was useless, taijitu venom spreads almost instantly. A boy of Royals size had no chance of survival.

Ryo eventually realized this and stopped his desperate attempts to revive the boy, opting instead for holding him in his arms, trying to make him as comfortable as possible as the light faded from his eyes.

Without even a final word to his surrogate father, Royal sighed a final breath. The life was gone for him, as Ryo wept bitterly over his corpse.

That's when things got weird.

As Ryo wept over Royals body, he heard unpleasant sounds from inside his body. he lifted his head to see Royals body growing… no swelling as something inside threatened to pop out of him. Ryo's mind flashed back to when he found Royal. He quickly drew his knife, forcing his stomach down at what he was about to do.

He stabbed down into the chest of his beloved friend, and drew the knife back down to his stomach. As he did this, he revealed exactly what he was hoping he was wrong about.

A small Beowolf, covered in Royals blood, emerged, revealing its silver bone mask and glowing purple eyes. This one was still small, but still larger than the one Ryo found Royal in. the creature looked around, apparently very confused, until its eyes met with Ryo's.

Ryo cautiously asked, "Royal? Is that you?"

The creature cocked its head to the side curiously and opened its mouth to speak, but all that came out was a gravelly growly noise, making it shake its head in confusion.

Ryo sighed in relief, "Alright, now Roy, I need you to focus here. Without looking down I need you to step towards me, no matter what happens keep your eyes on me."

Like any other six-year-old told not to look down, Royal looked down. He didn't like what he saw.

The Beowolf boy yelped pitifully as it realized it was standing in its own former body. he quickly jumped away from it, scampering behind the tree awkwardly, as he wasn't sure whether he should run on two feet or four.

Ryo sighed and let him run. He figured he wouldn't be much better given the circumstances. He calmly walked behind the tree to find Royal inspecting himself sorrowfully. He looked at me, unable to talk, but the look in his eyes spoke volume: _I'm a monster_

He knelt down to his level and wrapped him up in a hug, struggling to keep him still. "Roy, I know this is scary. I don't even know what's happening, but when I found you, you were in a Beowolf form just like this one, and you reverted back to human."

He pulled back and looked at Ryo with wide eyes, Unbeknownst to him, his tail started wagging in excitement, "I'm not sure how you reverted but for now just try to relax and think about your own form."

Royal rested his head on Ryo's shoulder trying to do as he was told while Ryo stroked his head repetitively, while secretly activating his semblance.

You see, Ryo's semblance sends out an "aura" of calmness than can make even the most determined enemy docile and ready to talk. It was a powerful move, but ate up Aura like a motherfucker.

Soon, Royals incessant whining stopped and his breathing slowed. Then he went still. Too still.

Ryo looked down in horror to see that the purple light of his eyes were gone. He was now holding a lifeless husk of a Beowolf, he hoped this would work.

With a wince, he once again dug his knife into Royals body, worried that it wouldn't dissolve fast enough.

To his relief, he opened up the creature's chest to reveal the silver head of Royal, back in human form. He quickly pulled him out of the corpse and held him to his chest.

Royal slowly opened his eyes. He held up a hand to see it back to human form. He sighed in quiet relief, "Ryo…"

"Yeah buddy?"

"What the fuck?"

"Normally I'd tell you not to swear, but I'll give you that one."

"Seriously! What the hell am I? Why did you never tell me how you found me?"

Ryo sighed and leaned back, letting his back-fall rest on the tree, "I don't know, and honestly I didn't know what to think of how I found you. You're only six, how do you think you would have reacted?"

"…Probably like I am now."

Ryo chuckled at that and looked down at his, let's face it now, son.

Royal noticed this, "What?"

Ryo shook his head, "Nothing, I'm just thinking."

"About how I'm a horrific monster and that my own corpse is still sitting over there?"

Ryo made a note to take care of that. "No, I'm thinking… that it's time we started getting you trained. "

Royal, despite all that happened, widened his eyes at this "Really?"

Ryo nodded, trying his best to hide the smirk on his face. "It would probably be in both our best interests."

At that time, all over the city of Vacuo, you could hear the almost howl like yell: "WOOOOO!"

 **9 years later**

It was late in the evening in the city of vale. The streets were remarkably calm for a city. One of the few signs of life was the popular shop: _From Dust till Dawn._ Inside shopped a girl named Ruby Rose. She looked through her favorite weapons magazines as she bobbed her head to her favorite singer. She was completely oblivious to the CRIME happening behind her, until one of the goons walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, she turned toward him and he pointed to his ear, signaling for her to pull out her head phones.

She complied, curious, "Yes?"

"I said: put your hands in the air. Now!"

"Are you… robbing me?" She asked genuinely.

"Yes!" The grunt grunted.

"Ohhhhh…" Ruby drawled,

Next thing anyone knew, said grunt flying against the wall of the store, while another is kicked through the stores window.

The bowler hat wearing leader and his remaining goons stared in awe as the girl unfolded an enormous red scythe, before looking at them with silver eyes that only conveyed one thing: _bring it_.

"Okayyyy" The bowler hat guy said, before turning to his goons in annoyance, "Get her!"

And get her they did… not. Not even close really. She mopped the floor with them in an amazing display of acrobatics, speed, and strange recoil maneuvers with her scythe that just so happened to be a high-powered sniper rifle.

As the last guy fell to the boss' feet, he muttered angrily, "You were worth every scent, truly you were."

He strutted forward toward Ruby, before leveling his cane at her, "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd like to stick around, I'm afraid _this_ is where we part ways." As he spoke, a small sight popped up from the bottom of the cane, showing that it doubled as a projectile weapon.

However, as he pulled the trigger, something small and fast shot itself into the muzzle, blocking the exit and effectively blowing up the weapon as it tried to fire.

The man swore loudly before looking around for the offender, finding none, "Who THE HELL did that?"

A low chuckle echoed through the street, seemingly coming from every direction at once. "Are you the one called Roman Torchwick.

Said criminal was now slightly freaked out. While Ruby, instead of taking the opportunity to take out her opponent, was also looking for the source of the voice. That's why they have schools for these situations. Roman answered hesitantly, "Depends… who is asking?"

His answer came in the form of a kick to the back of the head, knocking him forward to the ground. He scrambled to turn and get a look at this new enemy, what he saw was not what…. Well he wasn't really sure _what_ he expected, but this want it.

A kid, looking slightly older than Ruby stood over him. Unlike Ruby however, there was no glint of innocence in his, mesmerizingly purple, eye, no shred of mercy. He wore a tattered shirt and pants, underneath a leather purple trench coat, that unlike the rest of his clothes was in perfect condition. Somehow that wasn't his most striking feature. Flowing down his back almost past his waist was a brilliant mane of silver hair, shining almost as if it were made of the real metal. It was slightly wild and untamed similar to a certain blonde berserker, but it included bangs to frame the guys forehead. Ruby gazed at this in wonder, unknown even to her was the slight blush on her cheeks.

He grinned evilly down at the now slightly less hipster criminal in front of him, revealing elongated canines that made both Roman and Ruby wonder if he was Faunus of some kind. "I'm just gonna assume you're him. Now, I hear you know a little something about everything.

Roman shrugged nervously, "I get a round."

The boy leaned forward, "In that case, tell me everything you know about Ryo Belladonna,"

Roman's eyes widened, he had heard the name, in the sense one hears about bigfoot or the boogeyman. "Uh… anything in particular?"

"Yeah…. The name of the guy that killed him.

 **Chapter 1!**

 **Wow, I haven't written a chapter this fast in ages. It took me like a one and a quarter days. Nothing like new inspiration to get the brain juices flowing.**

 **For any who also read my other fanfic Perseus the Conqueror, my motivation for that story was so low that I had to do something. I've heard that having something to switch to can break a rut like that so here we are, plus I really wanted to write a RWBY fic. I'm definitely not stopping PTC.**

 **For any who are interested, should this be a Harem or a monotonous deal? A RWBY harem is very tempting, but I do wonder what it would be like to do something else for a change. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Important: Jaune will still be in the story, he will just have a different role. I'll be honest though, I'm leaning towards giving him a girl besides Pyrrha, because I feel like she belongs in the harem, what do you think? I LOVE Arkos as much as the next guy, but we all know that Pyrrha could do way better, not to toot royals horn or anything. Plus, watching Jaune's denseness drove me crazy.**

Royal POV

I waited patiently as the man in front of me considered his answer. Seriously though, did this guy even know the word subtlety? Everyone knows you shouldn't trust bowler hat guys!"

I wasn't too surprised though. In the few days, I've been in Vale I've come to realize a very important thing: everyone has a shtick.

Take these goons for example. Why the fuck were they wielding red swords? Answer: to match their sunglasses. And what was with those weird accents? I've never heard anyone talk like that, and there are people from all across Remnant in Vacuo, so I think I'd have come a cross them at some point. Answer: they must think for some dumbass reason that it makes them sound cool.

But enough worrying about that. Roman finally opened his mouth, "I can't say I know kid, but if you help me deal with little Red here, I can find out."

I narrowed my eyes at him detecting the lie immediately, however I forced a smile, "I'm listening."

I actually felt the Red girl tense up, as she readied her scythe which, for the record, had to be the most epic piece of equipment I've ever seen. As she got ready to fight I quickly snapped my head towards her, shouting, "If you want even a smidge of a chance to survive this encounter, I suggest you stay still." I made it sound harsh, but before I turned back to Roman, I put a genuine smile on my face, something I hadn't done in a while, and winked at her meaningfully, before looking away, hoping to the gods she understood.

Roman looked like he had just won the lottery, "I have a contact who knows more than even me, he will know about your buddy's killer for sure! I'll take you to him, right after you get me out of this little spat." He smiled triumphantly

I nodded, "And would this contacts name be Junior by any chance?" The man's now pale face was a good enough answer, "Because I saw him already, and he said that it was more your speed and sent me your way. He was like really willing too, I didn't have to force or bribe him at all."

Roman growled under his breath, "Damn you… Alright fine!"

He then leaped up off the ground. Drawing a collapsible baton form inside his jacket I none hand and a pistol in the other. I barely had time to dodge to dodge his first strike before he started firing shots off at me.

I dodged all except the first shot, which bounced harmlessly off my aura, making it glow purple at the point of impact. It did little damage, but I still winced at how careless I was.

I jumped away, pouring some aura into my legs to give me a boost. I went sailing above his head and landed lightly on the sign of the dust shop, balancing perfectly as I devised an attack plan. I then glanced over at the girl, who was still frozen, uncertain what to do.

I decided to help her out, "You can move now Red."

Apparently, that was all she need. The confidence she held in her eyes before I intervened returned, and she aimed her rifle behind her, shooting herself forward, while declaring "My name is Ruby!"

Ruby really was skilled with that scythe. As she zipped around Roman, taking pot shots and looking for an opening in his defense, she moved with such grace and skill, I almost felt honored watching. However, I couldn't keep watching while she fought alone. I eagerly joined in.

I dropped behind Roman, hoping to get in a good hit from behind, but apparently, he hadn't forgotten me. barely looking, he aimed his pistol at me, taking a few shots and forcing me to dash to the side, keeping my head low. I couldn't close to him like this, it was time to change tactics.

As I continued to run and dodge bullets, I reached into my coat and grabbed my knives. They weren't anything special, just small throwing knives I carved out of stones, pretty disposable. I grabbed three in each hand, as I held hem between my knuckles. It was time to bring knives to this gun fight.

I started launching them one at a time. The first few he dodged and deflected easy. Good, it gives him a false sense of security before I launched the fourth one.

The fourth knife I threw seemed to fly out of my hand faster than the eye could follow, catching roman off guard and putting a deep gash in his shoulder

This was one of my favorite techniques: Comet Launch. I build up Aura on the tips of my throwing hands fingers, and just as the object leaves my hands, release it violently, sending the knife or any object flying at insane speeds. It cost only a sliver of aura with each throw, small enough that it would regenerate in less than a minute.

Roman didn't appreciate it like I did. He looked down at the wound in shock, before snarling at me, "Do you know how much this suit costs?!"

I ran straight at him, launching knife after knife, which he barely managed to deflect away from his vital spots, still suffering serious gashes to his arms and legs. I smirked and said, "If it was so expensive why'd you bring it to a fight dummy?"

I was getting close now, close enough to land a strike in just a few inches, as my barrage had required all his focus to deflect, making aiming his pistol out of the question. He realized his predicament, and was glaring at me, but at the last minute his glare turned into a smile.

Before I had a chance to ponder what caused this, he threw himself down to the ground, revealing a now very surprised Ruby, flying unstoppably through the air, straight at me.

I assumed that she was trying to go for a sneak attack. Though why she thought she could succeed where I failed, I had no idea. it was inconsequential as she was now flying headfirst into me, knocking me back with her superior momentum and sending me on my back where my head cracked against the pavement.

I groaned as I tried to get my head to stop spinning. My groaned was joined by another higher pitched one, causing me to open my eyes and see Ruby's eyes clenched shut as she lay on my chest, as if she suffered a worse injury!

I sighed and tried to push her off, but it appeared that she was unconscious, and for such a small girl, she could be astonishingly heavy if she wanted to.

Then things got weird. Her groaning turned into… moaning? Then she started unconsciously rubbing her hand against my chest, making me feel very uncomfortable.

I whistled as loudly as I could, causing her to wake up suddenly, and look around confused before her eyes met with mine.

Slowly her face began to turn as red as her cloak, and to be honest mine got a little heated as well before I said, "Wanna get off me?"

In an instant and a flurry of rose petals, she was standing above me, rambling incoherently and trying to help me up.

I held up a hand to stop her as I got to my feet, before I heard her say, "Where'd he go?"

I looked around in alarm, before I closed my eyes and sniffed deeply. Immediately I turned towards the obnoxious smell of tobacco to see him climbing onto the roof of a building.

I pointed him out, "There, come on." Before I did another Aura jump, launching myself all the way to the roof of the building, followed shortly by Ruby who boosted up with only the recoil of her gun.

Ruby stepped forward toward Roman, who was standing on the edge of the building with his back to us, "Stop!"

He growled under his breath "Persistent…" before a bullhead suddenly rose up in front of him. It had to have been parked on the ground under him, otherwise I would have heard it coming, Bullheads don't just appear out of nowhere, this isn't a cartoon.

He jumped in and turned to us, "End of the line you two!" He then threw a red fire dust crystal to our feet while raising his pistol.

I quickly figured out what he had in mind and grimaced as my body reacted. I moved myself in front of the Ruby and did my best to shield her with my body, pressing her close to my chest and waiting for the blast. I knew my aura wouldn't take it, but unbeknownst to anyone else, the skin of my back underneath my clothes began to harden and turn dark.

Luckily however, it was unnecessary, as the blast was deflected by something else. Letting go of the crimson reaper, I turned to see a tall blonde woman summoning a glowing purple glyph that apparently blocked the blast. She huffed and pushed her glasses up before performing a sweeping motion with... a riding crop?

Beams of purple energy began to attack the vehicle, and it looked good for our side for a moment, until someone else replaced Romans spot, and began countering the attacks with her own flaming energy. What ensued was a magical showdown of epic proportions, but one that sadly ended with them flying away.

As they disappeared into the Horizon Ruby spoke up to the Blonde woman, "You're a huntress… Can I have your autograph!?"

The woman sighed, "You're both coming with me.

I held up a hand, "Uh, no can do, you see I have some other business to— "

"…And that's all I remember before Miss Witch with a capital B clocked me." I growled out to the policeman, who raised an eyebrow as it came out a bit more animalistic than I intended.

"It's actually pronounced Goodwitch." The officer questioning me said.

I glared at him, "I said what I meant."

I was currently stewing in an interrogation room in the Vale police department. I had woken up here a while ago with a pain in my head and a bad attitude.

Poor Ruby sat right next to me, sensing my obvious displeasure and completely lost on what to do about it.

The officer taking their statement nodded in approval, "That's all I need. Though, I think someone else would like to talk to you."

He left leaving me alone with a very nervous Ruby. A quick side-glance revealed she was actually shivering, "Are you okay?"

She jumped at my words, "Oh uh… yeah, I'm fine, it's just that I've never gotten into so much trouble before, my dad's going to freak out." She said sadly.

I wasn't sure what to say at first, luckily, I didn't have to, as she continued with, "I'm sorry I was such a nuisance to you in the fight, I got cocky didn't I?"

I blinked, wondering if were thinking of the same fight, maybe one where she wasn't a scythe wielding badass tornado of death, "How do you mean?"

She looked at me curious, "I-I let myself get you knocked out while knocking you over in the process, I don't think it can get much lamer than that."

I chuckled, "Oh that. Listen, that was a bit of a fault on both of us for not coordinating our attacks. Lame is when I was in training and managed to knock myself with my own foot."

I could tell she was trying very hard not to laugh at that. "How did you do that?"

I smirked as I remember it. Ryo had begun my training with martial likes, like he had. We were sparring like every morning. He had surprised me by doing a front flip over my head, and I, in all my wisdom, attempted to get kick him a way while he was still behind me. He easily deflected, but he deflected up, making my flexibility training work against me as the foot slammed up into the back of my head, knocking me out cold. Ryo said it took him three whole minutes to stop laughing.

Breaking out of my daydream I answered, "Very carefully."

She looked like she wanted to ask me something else, but before she could, the door to our interrogation room opened to reveal… GoodBitch.

She didn't look so happy to see me either, but composed herself and began her rant. "I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly you two. You put yourselves in others in grave danger."

Ruby, bless her heart responded with "They started it." I decided not to mention how I saw her through the first punch while scoping out Roman.

"If it were up to me, you would be sent home," GoodBitch continued, "With a pat on the back," this made Ruby light up and me raise an eyebrow, before she turned to glare at us, "And a slap on the wrist."

With that she slapped our riding crop on the table in front of us, making Ruby yelp and pull back, while I just stared her down with my arms crossed, refusing to be intimidated.

She sighed and pulled back, "As it is, there's someone who would like to talk to you."

Then the door opened to reveal a tall, lanky man with gray hair and a weird green ascot. Upon seeing me, I thought I saw a glimpse of something in his eyes… Confusion? But it was gone a soon as it appeared and e continued forward, holding a mug in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other.

"Ruby Rose…" he walked forward and got his face close to hers, real creepy like. "You have silver eyes."

I was glad to see Ruby was as uncomfortable as I was with this, lest there would be something wrong with her. he then turned to me, "And you have purple eyes."

I scoffed, "Yeah and you have the eyes of a dead fish, can I go now?"

He leaned back and sipped his coffee in contemplation, before placing the plate of cookies on the table in front of us. I wasn't about to try any cookies from strangers, but apparently Ruby had no such qualms as she attacked them viciously.

The man pulled out a scroll and showed a video of Ruby kicking major ass, "Might I ask where you learned to do this?"

Ruby stopped eating, "S-Signal academy."

He blinked lazily, "They taught you to use the most powerful weapon ever designed?"

Ruby shrugged, "Well one teacher in particular."

She then continued attacking the cookies. The man nodded, "I see. It's just that I've only ever seen one other person with that amount of skill, a dusty old crow…"

Ruby, mouth full of food, responded, "YErhu dat ma uclre." Making it very hard for me not to laugh.

She swallowed her food, "Sorry, that's my Uncle Crow. I was total garbage before he took me under his wing," I stifled a joke about Crow taking her under his wing, "Now I'm all like hiyaaaa! Kchaaaa!" she did various martial arts poses, pushing me over the edge and causing me to burst out laughing.

Unfortunately, this drew the man's attention to me. "And you. where did you learn to do this?" he held up a video of me fighting with Roman,

I shrugged, "My dad taught me, Why?"

He moved the video to the moments where I used my aura control, the jumps, the knives, "Am I to presume this some sort of semblance? Try as one might, power like that doesn't emerge from skill."

I smirked, "Maybe it is maybe it isn't."

He narrowed his eyes. "Shall I just call up your father then, see what he has to say about it?"

I chuckle, "Jokes on you pal, my dad was murdered."

His expression didn't falter, but the blonde Bitch's glare did loosen up a bit, and Ruby full on gasped at my proclamation.

After a moment of tense silence, the man asked, "Do you at least have a name?"

I thought about it for a moment, but couldn't find the harm, "Royal."

He raised an eyebrow, "Just "Royal"? No last name?"

I blinked, not really sure what to say. Up until now no one ever asked for my last name. I never needed one. However, I knew exactly what to answer, "Belladonna. Royal Belladonna."

The man's eyebrow rose so high I thought it was trying to escape, "Very interesting."

He backed away from me and looked between Ruby and I. "Do either of you know who I am?"

Ruby answered tentatively, "You're professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy."

He nodded happily while I looked back in forth between him and her, "The what of the who now?"

Ruby looked at me like I grew a third eye, "You don't know about Beacon?"

I shrugged, "I'm new in town."

Ruby looked like she was going to ask more, but Ozpin spoke first, "Beacon Academy is an institution specializing in training young Hunters and Huntresses. It is one of four Academies across Remnant. It is a place to gain experience and hone one's skills in preparation for protecting all of remnant."

At this point I was vaguely remembering some people in Vacuo going on about this place, but before I could speak Ruby spoke up, "It's also like, the best out of the four! It's where my mom and dad went, and one day I'm going to apply too!" she said proudly."

Ozpin looked at her with interest, "You wish to attend my school?"

She nodded, "More than anything!"

He looked back at Goodwitch, who rolled her eyes in annoyance before he answered, "Well okay."

He then looked over at me as Ruby's mind began to explode, "And I extend an invitation to you as well Mr. Belladonna. It could be a great opportunity for you. I see a potential hunter in you, even if you don't see it yet yourself."

My first instinct was to of course refuse, I don't really care for handouts. But after thinking about it for a moment I realized he was right. This was a great opportunity. Hunters go all over Remnant, meet all sorts of people, find out all kinds of information.

Like who killed Ryo.

Plus, it was a chance to sharpen my skills against other people my age. My fight against Roman was a wakeup call, I needed more experience. And looking at Ruby I knew the company wouldn't be too bad. Though in a school of people training to kill Grimm, I would likely have to keep my, er, unique abilities a secret. But I do that anyways.

I looked him in the eye, "I accept."

 **Later**

I was regretting… nothing

I was currently standing in an enormous Bullhead flying to Beacon. I was standing at the window looking down excitedly, never having been this high up before. Not everyone was having as good a time as me though. Some scrawny blonde guy ran past me, looking like he was going to throw up. My eyes followed him as he passed… what do you know?

Ruby Rose was standing a ways away from me, talking with an older blonde girl, with hair as long as mine, but a bright golden color

After the talk with Ozpin, we didn't really have any more time to interact. Her dad arrived and took her home, and I… well I was homeless so I just kind of wondered around until I found a quiet roof to sleep on. I figured I might as well say hi.

As I approached them Ruby suddenly pointed to the blonde's shoes in horror. I looked down and saw that the scrawny guy had spouted some puke on her shoes.

I kept approaching anyways as the two started squealing about how gross it was. The high pitch alone nearly turned me back but I soldiered through.

Finally, Ruby saw me as her friend took off her boots. "Royal? Hi!"

I waved and smiled, "Hey Ruby. How's it going?"

She pointed to Yang, "Some doofus spewed chunks all over Yang's boots, and there isn't anywhere to clean them off at."

I looked at Yang, who was eyeing me suspiciously, but really more worried about getting her boots clean. She was also looking at my… hair? "Who's this Ruby? And more importantly who is his stylist?

I didn't really know what she was talking about, so I just held out a hand, "I could clean them for you if you'd like."

She narrowed her eyes, "You won't do anything weird to them, will you?"

I rolled my eyes, "What you think I'm going to lick them clean? I'm not an animal!" mostly.

She shrugged and handed them over. I then walked over to a nearby garbage bin and raised them over my head. I heard Yang gasp.

"Hey! I thought you were going to clean them not throw them away!"

I ignored her and threw my arms down as fast as I could with a bit extra from my aura. I held the boots tight, and watched as all the vomit and even a bit of dirt caked on from previous use came flying off of them and into the trash can, leaving them crystal clean.

I turned and walked back to the dumbfounded pair and handed the footwear back to the blonde, who held them silently. After a moment, Ruby spoke up, "That… was…. AWESOME! How did you do that? Do you have a strength semblance? ***Gasp*** could it be that you have a speed semblance like me!?"

As she spoke her enthusiasm pushed her further and further towards my face, her eyes sparkling excitedly. I felt my sweat drop and said, "Uh, it's not really a semblance, just training."

It was then that Yang closed her gaping mouth, "Training? Nobody can get to that through just training!"

I pretended to be offended, "Wow, calling me a nobody now huh? After I just did you a favor? That's just cold."

The blonde stammered and sputtered, "I- that's not- I just…"

I figured I embarrassed her enough and let out a laugh, surprising her, "Calm down Blondie, I was just joking. it's not a semblance, but it's not all muscle either. I just boosted my arms with a bit of aura."

She blinked, "First of all: the names Yang, not Blondie, second of all…" she was suddenly very close to me, uncomfortably close even, "I didn't even know that was possible! The possibilities… think you can teach it to me?"

"Uhhhh…" I was having trouble thinking, as two very large, very soft objects were touching my chest.

"YANG!" I was saved as Ruby yanked the girl away from me, letting me breath, "What do you think you're doing?"

Yang scoffed, "Ruby, you may be too young to understand, but when a woman wants something she has a very special way to get it. Royal doesn't mind, he's a big boy, aren't you Royal? How old are you 17, 18?"

I fought the tinge of red on my face as I answered, "15…"

Once again Yang's Jaw was on the floor. It stayed there as she compared her height with mine, finding herself a couple inches shorter, before finally she whistled, "Jeeze when did you hit puberty?"

I was now thoroughly embarrassed, and apparently so was Ruby. "Yaaaaaaang!" she put herself between Yang and I, trying to break us apart, "Stop being so embarrassing. Can't you tell Royal is uncomfortable?"

Yang waved her hand, "Oh please! Roy—can I call you Roy?" without waiting for a response, "Roy is a guy, and guys love me!"

I deadpanned. _Just why do you think that is?_

Suddenly Yang snapped her fingers, "Wait a minute, you're the guy Ruby was rambling about last night, aren't you?" At this Ruby's face started heating up again.

Yang continued, "The one who fought that Roman guy off with her? the one who apparently threw himself on her to protect her from an explosion?"

I rubbed the back of my head, "I guess…"

She suddenly snapped, "Are you, or aren't you?!"

I felt very intimidated for some reason and reacted with, "Yes ma'am!"

This made Yang smile, wider than I thought possible. Next thing I knew, she was by my side, pressing my arm into her chest with a glint in her eye that I didn't recognize, but it gave me a bad feeling as she looked at Ruby, "You know what, I like Roy. I think I'll keep him."

"Yaaaaang."

"I've been looking for a new "friend". Maybe after we land you and I could…"

"STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!" Ruby yelled. And Yang did, mainly to dodge Ruby's scythe, which she was swinging wildly, so wildly that I had to focus not to get hit as well.

"Woah calm down Ruby! I was joking!" the blonde tried to calm down the smaller girl, who just wasn't having it.

It was then that the bullhead doors opened, offering me a chance to escape from these crazy girls before I got killed, or worse, "Oh look! We're here, and I just remembered I have something to do right now, so uh… bye!"

I turned and ran out the door, right into the scraggly blonde guy.

He fell to the ground instantly, grunting in pain while I remained standing. I was about to help him up and apologize when I noticed something very wrong. He was bleeding

Anyone coming to this school should have Aura, and anyone with Aura shouldn't bleed that easily. I looked back at the girls and swore under my breath as I saw Ruby begin to calm down. I made a quick decision and grabbed up the guy in front of me, lifting him easily over my shoulder before running off into the grounds.

Obviously, the man had something to say about this, "Hey! Let go of me! first you knock me over then you kidnap me? what the heck man?"

I ignored him as I looked for an out of the way area, I found it behind some hedges away from the main walkway, where I threw the guy on the ground in front of me.

He quickly got up and glared at me, "Who the heck do you think you are?"

I stared him down, "Where's your aura?"

He blinked, "What?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Aura? You know what Aura is right?"

He looked nervous, "Uh, yeah of course! I definitely know what ara is."

I felt my eye twitch at the mispronunciation. I grabbed him by the collar and held him up to my face, growing more confident as he made no effective move to stop me, "You don't even know how to fight do you?"

He looked like a deer in headlights, "Uh…"

I felt a growl escaping my throat, causing him to pale, "You come here with no skill, no aura, and no idea what you're doing, and think you can get away with it. You know what happens when people like you do shit like this?"

"They— "

"It was rhetorical!" I practically screamed, "What happens is, your lack of skill and knowledge gets people hurt, killed even. Because they go out there relying on the fact that you know what you're doing, then you don't have their back when shit hits the fan. Is that what you want? To get someone killed?"

He shook his head so fast I thought it would fall off, "I just wanted to be a—I just wanted to help people. I'm sorry."

I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, realizing I might have been a bit harsh, but I couldn't help that everything I was saying was true, "If you are really sorry, and you really want to help people, then get back on that ship—when no one's watching if it helps you—and do something else with your life, until you have a few years, of actual training, and maybe a few Grimm kills under your belt. Understand."

He nodded, and I let him go. He apologized again before heading back towards the Bullhead. I felt a little bad watching him go with his head hung low, but I knew I'd get over it.

I made my way back to the pathway to the Academy, taking the time to admire the school itself now that I wasn't running from crazy women and scolding dumbass men. It was certainly impressive, though it made me wonder how much funding was left over for the actual class courses.

My musings were interrupted by the sound of some girl hollering at someone. I followed the noise to see the palest creature I've ever seen in my life. She had white hair, pale white skin, and white clothes, and she was scolding… Ruby. Why was I not surprised?

"I said I was sorry Princess!" Ruby yelled, I then decided it was time to interfere, but before I could, someone beat me to it.

"It's heiress actually."

Both girls turned to see a figured dressed in dark clothing, with a bow on her head and a book in front of her face as she walked forward, which couldn't be safe by the way, all the while saying "Weiss Schnee: heiress to the Schnee dust company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss seemed to preen at the attention, "Finally! Some recognition."

The figure lowered the book and forced my heart into my throat.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

This got to the angry girl, "Wha—how dare—ugh!" She huffed and stomped off, probably to terrorize some other people.

However, I was less interested in her and more in the new girl. It appeared she had noticed me too, and she was staring right back. Normally I would have left, not one to stare down random strangers, but I found myself glued to the spot because… well…

She looked just like Ryo.

 **Chapter 2!**

 **Hope you liked this. Sorry about Jaune. I love him but he is a bit of a dummy, and I have an idea for the plot that requires him to not be at beacon. He'll be back though, eventually.**

 **I doubt many will read this but I'll say it anyway. The current rate of uploads is just coming form new story brain rush, it will pass and the I'll probably go to every week or every other week switching between stories. Sorry, but I have a lot of essays coming up and I'm writing this so… I'm obviously not in control of my life.**


	3. Chapter 3

Third person POV

Royal was frozen, unable to look way from the girl who looked eerily like his former mentor. She had the same calculating eyes, the same jet black hair, the same lithe body, perfect for the Belladonna fighting style, she even had a similar scent to him. I was now certain that she was hiding some cat ears under that bow, though not why.

He wasn't an idiot, he had a pretty good idea of who this was. Ryo loved talking about his adorable niece. He also told Royal why he had to leave her, which he was sure had something to do with his death. Maybe she knows something... regardless he was definitely going to keep an eye on her. he wouldn't let two Belladonnas die.

Unfortunately, she wasn't appreciating Royal's staring. Who would have thought? She turned fully toward him, causing Ruby to look where she was and see Royal. her face lit up, but before she could greet him, Blake spoke first, "What are you staring at?"

Roy's mind raced for an excuse. You smell like my dad? No that's awful, eventually he stammered out, "Sorry! You look like someone I used to know I…sorry."

Apparently that was good enough, as Blake just opened her book back up and walked past Ryo without a word, but not before sniffing right next to me, pausing, then shaking her head and continuing on, while Ruby watched her go with a frown.

It soon disappeared however, as she turned to Royal and zipped over to stand in front of him in a burst of rose petals, making him raise an eyebrow, as he had not seen her reach that level of speed before.

"Royal! Where did you go! First you abandoned me, then Yang abandoned me, then that mean girl screamed at me, and then I blew up—"

Royal whistled, "Meltdown already huh?"

Ruby pouted adorably, "No! I actually exploded! It was horrible! And that made that Weiss girl yell at me more and I just wanted her to stoooop."

She looked ready to fall over in despair, causing Royal to chuckle and put his arm around her shoulder and leading her towards the school, unknowingly making her blush, "Don't worry Ruby, it's only the first day, tomorrow is initiation, then you can show everyone your awesome scythe skills. They'll be begging to be your friends."

Ruby smiled softly at that as she rubbed Crescent Rose lovingly, but then she had a thought, "Hey Royal?"

"Yeah?"

She got out of his arm and looked at him, as if searching for something, "Where's your weapon?"

Royal snapped his finger at this, "That's right! I need to make some new throwing knives before tomorrow, that blonde bi—woman didn't let me go collect the ones I used last night. I just have to find some stones…"

Ruby's jaw dropped, her inner weapons dork writhing in agony "You carve knives out of stones? That's- that's not-What about you're _actual_ weapon? Every hunter needs a weapon!"

Royal shrugged, "I know what you're talking about, but sadly I don't have one. my dad couldn't afford to buy me one, and getting a job in Vacuo without even a birth certificate is nearly impossible."

Ruby looked at him with sadness, remembering what he said about his father last night, "I'm sorry about your dad… I know saying it doesn't mean much though, if there's anything I can do…."

Royal looked at her with the same smile he had given her last night during the fight" completely genuine, without a hint of an ulterior motive, "Thanks, but you don't need to worry about it. My dad was great, he gave me all the skills I have now, he always took care of me. he managed to give me a '"happy childhood" despite being homeless throughout it all—"

Ruby looked at him in shock, "You were homeless?"

Royal rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean… I technically still am, but I hear this place has dorms, so it's okay."

Ruby looked at him in awe. She had lived a life of luxury and relaxation with her dad on Patch, and this guy lived life of hardship and poverty in Vacuo of all places, and to top it off his dad was murdered. Yet somehow, he could still give her a smile like that… it was incredible.

She then made up her mind, "As soon as we get access to a forge, I'm going to help you make a weapon."

Royal stopped walking and looked at her in surprise, "Uh-i mean thanks but you don't have to do that!"

Ruby didn't budge, "It's fine, I want to. Plus I'm sort of huge weapons nerd so it won't be a bother. Also…" she looked away for a moment to hide her blush, "You threw yourself in front of an explosion for me, so it's the least I can do."

Royal laughed nervously, "I mean I didn't actually—"

Ruby was suddenly in his face again with her finger inches away from his eye and a determined look in her eye, "It's the thought that counts!"

He held his hands up in defeat, uncomfortable at her sudden closeness, "S-Sure! Whatever you say."

After this Ruby smiled and pulled back, before practically skipping happily towards the school, thinking of the wonderful process of weapon creation ahead, "Start thinking about what you want!"

As Royal watched her leave, he couldn't help but smile. She was weird but she was pure. He followed her, realizing she was not head toward the auditorium, able to smell the high concentration of hormonal teens from a mile away.

Royal POV

When we arrived at the auditorium, we instantly spotted Yang jumping up and down trying to get our attention, oblivious to the literal hundreds of guys now staring at her as certain things moved in certain ways. I was about to suggest that we go anywhere but where she is, but Ruby was already dragging me towards her.

When we arrived Yang smiled and said, "How's your first day going?"

Ruby glared, "You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?"

"Yeesh, meltdown already?" Yang asked. I nodded to her in agreement, making sure Ruby couldn't see me.

"No I literally exploded a whole in front of the school! And there was some fire and I think some ice…"

Yang smiled slyly, "Are you being sarcastic?

Ruby scoffed, "I wish! I tripped over some crabby girls luggage and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I _exploded,_ and then she kept yelling at me and I felt really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me.." as she spoke she sounded like she was about to burst out crying, making me wonder just how bad the situation actually was,

My thoughts were cut off however by a familiar voice. "YOU!"

Suddenly Ruby was in Yang's arms, "Oh god it's happening again!"

Somehow the Schnee girl had snuck up behind Ruby and was now looking at her angrily. "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of a cliff!"

In unison Yang and I muttered, "Oh my god you really exploded…"

Then Weiss started spouting off some company policy statement while holding a pamphlet of some kind, while I stewed something over in my mind

Yang eventually stepped in, "listen I think you two just got off on the wrong foot. Maybe you can start over and try being friends?"

Ruby jumped at the idea "Yeah great idea! ahem hello Weiss, I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

Weiss, in obvious sarcasm responded, "Yeah and we can paint are nails and talk about boys like tall, silver haired… and purple eyed… sorry who are you exactly?"

I raised an eyebrow as a somewhat dazed expression appeared on her face as she described me, "I'm so glad you asked. I'm the guy wondering what Ruby meant when she said she "sneezed" then exploded. How does that work."

Weiss suddenly looked anywhere but at us, "Uh I don't know what you're talking about."

Luckily Ruby did, "Some Fire dust got in my nose from when she was waving a vile around."

I closed my eyes, "So let me get this straight: Weiss here waved a fire dust vial around in front of Ruby, carelessly allowing the one dust almost everyone is allergic to, to seep out towards her face, and then blames her when she sneezes?"

Weiss was full on red now, "S-she could have held it in…"

I was about to go on a rant about how she should be the one reading the pamphlet I now read as "Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate people" when she was saved by Ozpin beginning his speech.

" I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." And with that he stepped off the stage, allowing Goodwitch to take the mic and tell us that we would be sleeping in the ballroom tonight.

The crowd started heading that way, along with the three girls I was talking to, commenting on how gloomy the headmaster seemed. Before she left, I made sure to grab Weiss's arm, causing her to snap her face at me ready to yell, but she was silenced by the sight of my face inches from hers as I whispered, "If you're going to act like you're the Brothers' gift to Remnant all year, you might as well fulfill the roll. Apologizing to Ruby is a good start. Or you can continue the way you are: alone, and trying your best to ignore everyone insulting you behind your back. Your choice."

With that I let her go and followed the crowd. I hope to the brothers that I got through to her, it would be a real pain having to deal with that attitude all year.

When we arrived at the ballroom, everyone began the mad dash for their desired spots. I was content to wait and find a spot after everyone else was settled, it was easier that way, but my plan was foiled by Yang, who was currently waving me over while fighting off several people going for a spot near her and Ruby. I sighed and walked toward her.

She smiled as I approached, "Oh hey Royal! Looking to sleep near a couple of hot chicks huh?"

I blinked, "You waved me over…"

She waved it off, before stalking towards me in an uncomfortably predatory manner "Regardless, now that you're here, we can finally get to talking about what's been both our minds since we saw each other…"

I was ready to run again. I can knock out an Ursa with my bare fists if necessary, but this woman was too much. However, when I looked at Ruby I noticed that she was sighing and shaking her head in annoyance instead of blushing as red as her cape, so I decided to wait and see what she was going to say.

When Yang was mere inches from my face, the predatory look was replaced by a contagious smile, "You have to tell me who does your hair!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, but was still confused, "What do you mean?"

She looked at me in disbelief, "What do you mean "what do you mean?" A mane like that has to have serious maintenance! And judging by how you take care of the rest of your appearance I doubt you're the one that maintains it. So who?"

I was a bit annoyed at that comment, but I brushed it off easily, knowing she didn't mean anything…overly bad by it. I could tell Ruby noticed, and didn't say anything as she leaned forward and whispered something in Yang's ear.

When she pulled away Yang was blushing like a madwoman, "Oh my gods… I'm so sorry Roy I didn't know—"

"It's fine." I cut her off, not really wanting to get into the subject of my living situation, "You didn't know. And to answer your question… I'm honestly not sure how it works. It sort of… doesn't get dirty."

It was true. Ever since I was little I knew two things about my hair: the mere thought of cutting it freaked me out as if I were considering chopping off a limb, and it basically maintained itself. No matter how long I went without bathing, or how dirty the rest of me go , my hair would always stay clean and neat. It really started to freak Ryo and I out, but eventually we got over it why look a gift horse in the mouth right?

Unfortunately It seemed that this was the wrong thing to reveal to Yang. She was smiling unnaturally wide and I think her right eye was twitching a bit, "Very funny Royal. Now tell me the truth kay?

"Uhhh…"

"Because I get up two hours early every morning to take care of my hair, and I spend two hours at the end of the day cleaning it out. I've perfected a new fighting style specifically to avoid getting blood in my hair, do you know how hard that was?"

I felt myself begin to sweat nervously as her eyes suddenly shifted from her usual lilac to blood red, "And you're telling me that your hair just "maintains itself"?

"…did I mention that I was homeless? Like dirt poor, scratch that dirt was too expensive.—"

She cracked her knuckles, "Oh we're past that now Roy."

I don't really want to get into what happened next.. but next thing I knew I was on the floor groaning and holding my head as the girls went to change into their pajamas. I didn't have anything to change into so I just opted for removing my shirt and coat. I shivered as I felt a breeze on my bare chest,

I heard a wolf whistle behind me, and I turned to see Yang looking at me with a less than pure expression while Ruby looked away while rubbing her shoulder, they were both now in their pajamas.

"Damn Roy! I didn't tell me you were jacked!" Yang exclaimed,

I looked down at my toned torso. I admit I was fairly proud of it, I had decently sized pecs and toned abdominals, I had put a lot of training into balancing strength and flexibility, and the result was, in my humble opinion, quite easy on the eyes.

I just shrugged at Yang, "I guess it must have slipped my mind. Does this mean you're no longer mad at me for, whatever it is I did?"

She shrugged, "For now, now lay down and look pretty for a while. Where's you're sleeping bag."

I crouched down and started folding my shirt into a pillow and preparing my trench coat to use as a blanket, "I don't have one."

When I looked back up, she was in my face, bending down to my level, her predatory grin back on, "We could share my bag if you'd like…"

I gulped. I had to use all my willpower not to lower my eyes just a few inches to what would undoubtedly be a great view of her… bad brain! But s seriously, this woman went from frustration to flirty faster than I could throw. "Um, no that's okay. I'll just sleep on the floor."

She leaned back with a much more relaxed smile, "Relax Roy I was just kidding." She covered her mouth to whisper, "I've been getting a kick out of Ruby's reactions."

We both looked over to see her red faced again, but instead saw that she was ignoring us as she lay prone on her bed, writing something in a notebook.

Yang went over and laid down next to her, "Watchya doing sis?" she asked.

Wait… _Sis?_

Ruby shrugged, "I'm writing a letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

Yang squealed, "Aw that's so cuuuuute!"

She was met with a pillow to the face, "Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school, it's weird not knowing anyone here."

Yang gestured to me, "What about Roy? He's strong, handsome, and you're age to boot!"

I would have added my say, but I was too busy scanning invisible math equations and trying to understand the genetics behind them two being sisters. Can such a difference in appearance really happen?

Ruby smiled, but soon lost it, "I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend though… back to zero."

"There's no such thing as negative friends!" Yang responded cheerfully, "You just made one friend and one enemy!" this was met by another pillow to the face, showing that it wasn't very helpful.

Yang didn't waver, "Look, it's only been one day. You have friends all around you. you just haven't met them yet."

As if on cue, the sound of a match being lit drew our attention to the ballroom wall, where Blake was currently situating herself with a book.

Ruby sat up, "That girl…"

"You know her?" Yang asked.

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything."

That's when trouble started. "Well now's your chance! Come on Roy!"

I knew that I would have to talk to Blake eventually, but I thought I'd have time to think it out first, I quickly tried to distract her "Uh wait a minute! You said you were sisters… is that like you're really close or actual genetics because you two look nothing like. Please explain in great detail."

Yang just shrugged, "Same dad different moms. Now come on!"

As she yanked Ruby and our to our feet with surprising strength, I face palmed, Half-sisters.. so obvious.

Before I knew it we were walking over towards Blake, with Yang, in all her subtlety, singing, "Hellooooo!"

She slung Ruby and I awkwardly towards her, "I believe you all might know each other!"

Blake looked up from her book, obviously irritated as she saw us, "Aren't you the girl who exploded?"

Ruby chuckled nervously, "That's me. My names Ruby! But you can just call me Crater… actually you can just call me Ruby. What's your name?"

"Blake…" Blake then turned towards me. I noticed her give a subtle sniff towards me, before looking very curious, "And you… have we met before?"

I suddenly realized what was happening. Ryo had a very good sense of smell as a cat Faunus, not as good as mine but good enough to easily pick up peoples scents, and remember them for life, and I was wearing his Coat.

I tried my best to act natural, "Besides this morning I don't think so. Sorry, my names Royal though. Nice to meet you."

She stared at me, "Likewise…"

There was an awkward silence then, I knew this because it was ended by Yang saying, "Well this is awkward."

"What are you people doing! Don't you know people are trying to sleep!"

We turned to see Weiss looking at us angrily in her own nightgown. Upon seeing each other, we all gasped, "YOU?!

Ruby was the first to get over it, "Guys she's right people are trying to sleep!"

It looked like Weiss was going to go on another rant, but instead she actually took a deep breath, composed herself, and said, "I suppose this is as good time as any. Ruby, I would just like to say that in retrospect… the incident this morning was partially my fault… I apologize for yelling the way I did."

Everyone stared at her in shock, except for me. I just smiled at her knowingly. Now I knew she wasn't beyond help. Weiss then turned to Blake and said, "In regards to your comments on SDC company policies, while I don't appreciate people bad mouthing what my family built from scratch, I won't deny that there is some truth in your words. However, I will say that these were installed by my father, and I am not him. Things will be different when I run the company. You have my word as a Schnee."

I was impressed. I mean she still gave her little speech with the attitude of a queen looking down on the peasants with disgust, but it was a great start. I looked over at Blake, and saw that she was actually smiling a bit, "That's good to hear. I look forward to it."

And with that she blew out her candles, making the room go dark.

 _I was practically bouncing along the road next to Ryo, ecstatic at what was to come. I was thirteen and today he was taking me on my first big huntsman mission, not just taijitu extermination. Apparently there was a real deathstalker sighting at a nearby canyon normally Ryo would go on missions like this by himself, leaving me behind to but after months of begging and convincing, he finally caved._

 _He was strolling behind me hands in his coat pockets, smiling at my antics. Then he straightened up. "We're almost here."_

 _I looked in the distance and saw that the canyon was indeed visible. It was actually fairly famous in Vacuo, nicknamed Grimm canyon, on account that there was apparently hundreds of Grimm at the bottom at any given time. However as long as they weren't disturbed, they didn't have the sense to climb out. It was a shame because scans revealed a surplus of Dust underneath the Grimm horde, but all attempts of clearing them ended in death and disaster, so it was given up on._

 _I stopped walking and turned to Ryo with my full attention. His hair was longer now, long enough to tie into a ponytail, which he somehow made to look cool. Like me he wore old tattered clothing, that we replaced about twice a year. As a result however, we were extremely careful about not getting them too dirty, though wear and tear always caught up in the end. He still wore his trademarked purple trench coat, which miraculous was still completely intact, be it for tender care or sturdy design. I wore a simple black jacket over my shirt. My hair was down to my hips, and didn't seem to grow any more._

 _He stared at me carefully , "Knives?"_

 _I unzipped my jacket and revealed the rows of stone knives I had carved hanging from the loops I had sewed in specifically for that purpose. "Check!"_

 _He nodded, "Aura?"_

 _I flexed my control over my Aura, performing an exercise Ryo taught me to increase control over aura. I activated my aura to cover my body like a hunter would normally have on at all times, then willed it to expand, literally lifting me off the ground as I made a glowing purple avatar around myself, focusing to keep it in my own image instead of a formless blob like I had at the beginning. The avatar was rarely a necessary combat tactic though, but it was a great party trick. Feeling cocky, I added a few cat ears to match Ryo as my avatar was level with his. "Check!"_

 _He gave a chuckle at my addition. As I let my aura recede however, he turned deadly serious. "Claws?"_

 _I nodded and closed my eyes to concentrate, after a moment, my fingers began to blacken, and my nails elongated and hardened, turning the same silver color as my hair, The process didn't hurt, but it felt really weird. "Check."_

 _He nodded grimly. Ever since the incident when I was six, he had unlocked my aura immediately and had been training me in aura control and martial arts like a drill sergeant, per my own request, in the effort to not let what happened ever happen again. We had come to the theory that the Beowolf form emerges when my human form is dying, but we weren't sure, and we weren't about to test it. We did know that I developed an enhanced sense of smell after the transformation however, but we didn't know why. The claws we discovered by accident during training, when he was attempting to teach me a climbing technique involving extending ones aura into hook like appendages from the fingers that could dig into whatever you were trying to climb. I worked on it for a whole day, until finally my aura was exhausted, only I didn't know it. On the next attempt, the claws appeared, scaring the living shit out of me._

 _Thing was: they cut through Grimm like knife through warm butter, so after some consideration, Ryo agreed to help me work on some fighting techniques involving them on the conditions that I didn't attempt to develop any more Grimm powers until I was older, and that I never use them in front of anyone but him. I agreed, knowing that he was only looking out for me._

 _Ryo began leading the way towards to the canyon with me in tow, We were a few yards away from the edge when we saw it. A giant deathstalker, scuttling along the road that runs next to the edge,_

 _We crouched down in some bushes to observe it, as Ryo pulled out his Kunai knife. He always started with that as his weapon, and I couldn't blame him. It was specially forged to be hard enough to block an attack from a weapon ten times its size, and flew through the air better than any knife I could ever forge out of stone. I often fantasized about having one of my own, but I knew better than to ask for one while we were still living on the streets. We were making steady progress towards a house though, Ryo has been putting aside around five to ten percent of the Lien he earns from jobs into saving for years now, though we usually needed the rest for food. We did alright though._

 _He looked to me and started counting down from three with his fingers. I understood immediately and drew a few knives in preparation. When he hit one, we burst out of the bushes and charged at the Death stalker at our aura enhanced speed. We separated, Ryo going right and I going left. We were going according to the plan where I stay at a distance and agro the creature with shots at its armor chinks, while Ryo gets in close and does damage up close._

 _It was going well too. I hit the weak spots with every thunderous launch, but the knives didn't go nearly deep enough to deal serious damage. Ryo was up close, using his superior skills to hit the weak points with deep stabs, now using his traditional katana, as the knife didn't go deep enough on the first few strikes. It looked like we were going to get a smooth victory, when everything went wrong._

 _The death stalker did something completely unheard of. While Ryo was attacking from its side, it used one of its actual legs to strike out at Ryo, catching him in the gut and sending him to the ground. Ryo told me that Deathstalkers have only ever used their pincers and stingers to attack._

 _As it turned towards where he was groaning and holding his stomach. I began to worry as my strikes were no longer garnering its attention. It was the that I made a decision that I would wonder about for the rest of my days._

 _With an aura powered jump, I leaped at the Deathstalker with my claws formed and started going to town on its side, easily ripping off the armor and clawing deep into its flesh. This got its attention, too well. It suddenly turned, whipping it's pincer into my side and knocking me to the ground, hard. I opened my eyes to see it standing over me, stinger coming down to finish me off._

 _However, the end never came. In a blur, Ryo was in front of me, holding the stinger with his hands over his head, struggling to push it away. I was in awe, as he was radiating his black aura, for a moment before it ceased. I soon recognized this as a last resort technique he told me about, called Full Body Enhancement. It augmented every part of the body, including the mind, making you register the world so fast it was like the world was moving in slow motion. There was only one catch: It completely drained one's aura._

 _I stared in awe at Ryo, as he held off the Deathstalkers stinger with what could only be his own physical strength. He looked back at me in annoyance, "I told you to keep your distance."_

 _I just stared dumbly, unable to speak. However I was broken out of my trance as the stinger suddenly flipped backwards, throwing Ryo several yards, straight towards the edge of the cliff._

 _By some miracle he caught the ledge, his body dangling precariously over the seemingly bottomless chasm below. As he struggled to lift himself up, the Deathstalker started charging full speed at him, as if it had a personal grudge now to end his life._

 _I finally found my boy moving, I picked up Ryo's katana which was laying where he fell before, and dashed toward the Deathstalker, specifically the side where I had ripped off its armor. Before it could react, I had driven the blade into its side with such force that even the hilt and a bit of my hand went in with it. The death stalker froze, letting out a bone chilling shriek, before falling limp, not moving again._

 _Not taking a moment to celebrate my victory, I ripped the katana out and ran over to where Ryo was pulling himself up, helping him the rest of the way where he sat down to catch his breath ._

 _After he had caught his breath I handed him his katana, "I'm sorry Ryo, I should have listened to you, I thought I could help out but I should have let you handle and—"_

 _He put a hand on my shoulder after sheathing his Katana, "Royal, look behind you."_

 _I turned around as he ordered and saw the Grimm beginning to dissipate, "See that dead Grimm there?" I nodded. He then turned me back towards him, "You did that. And I am so proud of you."_

 _I looked up at him in disbelief, "But I got you in trouble…"_

 _He shrugged, "Bravery is just stupidity that ends well son. This was your first serious battle, so I was more or less expected you to make a mistake. But you've more than made up for it. So of course I'm proud."_

 _I couldn't stop the smile that erupted from my face as Ryo grew a matching one. "Now don't think I won't double your training for that little snafu."_

 _I chuckled but didn't say anything as he got to his feet. I started walking away, when I noticed that I didn't hear any footsteps behind me. I turned around and what I saw made my blood run cold._

 _Ryo was still standing on the edge, holding the side of his neck which was oozing blood. He wheezed out, "S-Sniper…" before falling backwards over the edge._

 _I ran as fast as I could towards him, throwing myself towards the edge, and grabbing on to the bottom of his trench coat. His body fell backwards before flipping around as the tail of his trench coat bent around his shoulder blades, so he was facing the cliff face while I held the tail of his coat._

 _I held on tight as his weight hit me. I soon came to a horrifying realization that I had spent all my aura on my last strike, leaving me without the strength to pull him up, as I was using one hand to hold him and another to dig my clause into the rocky ledge, keeping us from falling. However that wasn't my biggest issue._

 _As I looked over the edge, I saw hundreds of glowing red eyes staring up at us. The Grimm below had been roused by our commotion, and the Creeps were beginning to ascend the side of the cliff in droves, numbers we couldn't possibly hope to face._

 _Ryo noticed this as well, still holding his neck trying to stop the bleeding he looked up at me, "If they reach the top they'll kill you, me, and countless more people who won't know they're coming. You have to let me go."_

 _I looked at him horror, "What? No! I can save you I just need time for my aura to replenish—"_

 _He snapped, "There is no time Royal! I can distract them! Maybe even make them forget about climbing out! Now let me go!"_

" _NO!" I yelled back defiantly as tears rolled down my face. Yet I continued to glare at him and he at me, until finally his face softened, "You're right. I'm sorry Royal. You're a good boy."_

 _I felt joy spring up in my chest until he continued, "I'll always love you son, remember that okay?"_

 _He suddenly raised both arms, and nimbly slipped out of the sleeves of his coat, leaving me with only the coat in hand as he plummeted towards the Creeps below. I watched as he drew his katana and Kunai, yelling in rage and agony as he slammed down on the leading creep, stabbing his blades into its back and using his momentum to bring the Grimm down with him. As their bodies disappeared into the black, the rest of the Creeps followed after. Attracted by the screaming, bleeding man. All the while I was screaming as tears began to flood down my face…_

I sat up in a cold sweat, my trench coat falling off me as I breathed heavily. I then realized, judging by the angry stirring of the majority of the students in the ballroom, that I had been screaming out loud in my sleep.

"Royal…" I jerked my head around to see Yang and Ruby looking at me with concern. "Are you okay? What happened?"

I saw many other people staring at me with mixed looks. Some concern and some anger, among them were Weiss and Blake, I felt relieved that they weren't in the anger section.

After a moment I said, "Sorry, thought I saw a spider."

Ruby and Yang looked like they weren't buying it, but the majority of the ballroom did, and proceeded to throw an avalanche of pillows at me, which I took with an awkward laugh as I got up.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked, evident worry evident in her voice.

I waved it off, "Just going to get some fresh air and calm down, those spiders really freak me out ya know? Total arachnophobe."

Ruby and Yang didn't seem convinced but didn't try to stop me as I walked out of the ballroom, coat in hand.

Once outside I leaned heavily against the wall, enjoying the feeling of nestling into my hair, but otherwise still freaked out. I hadn't had that dream in months. I guess seeing Blake reminded me a little too much of him.

I looked down at the purple coat in my hands, before clenching it tightly and bringing it up to my face as I whispered, "I'll get him Ryo, I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

Royal POV

"For the last time you guys, I'm fine, I was just startled is all." I told Ruby and Yang. We were currently preparing for Initiation in the locker room. For Ruby and Yang, it consisted of putting on their combat clothes, which was just their regular clothes, and gearing up with their weapons. For me, it consisted of sitting down and carefully carving as many knives out of stone as I could. I was up to six.

"Right, you were startled by the "spider"" Yang drawled, "So startled that it you suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and screamed in terror."

I shot he a finger gun, "Exactly!"

"Royal," Ruby said in a worried voice, "Yang and I know what it's like to lose a parent too. We can help.

I stiffened up, "What makes you think this has anything to do with my dad?"

Yang scoffed, "Maybe because one of the words you were screaming was "Dad!""

I winced. It would have really helped to know that.

"We know what you're going through Royal. We can help." Ruby said.

I felt myself get a bit irritated at that, "Oh really? You also watched the one person who ever gave a shit about you in your life, die right in front of you? Then by all means, commence with the helping!"

They looked at me in silent shock as I said, "Don't presume what you don't know, and don't pry where someone obviously doesn't want you looking. See you later." And with that I walked away, just as some guy walked past, followed by a hyper girl who looked at him like a love-sick puppy.

I might have been a little harsh back there but sue me if I wasn't exactly emotionally stable at that point. I spent the last two years hunting for leads on Ryo's killer, not looking for "resolution" or any of that emotional crap. Still, I should apologize later, when I've calmed down.

As I was storming away though, I noticed Weiss talking with a strangely familiar redhead that I couldn't quite place. I figured I should tell her how impressed I was at her actions last night, maybe have a positive interaction to start off the day.

As I approached Weiss was doing some weird maniacal plan thingy, I don't' know I try not to judge. I walked up with a smile on my face, "Hey Weiss I— "

She turned to glare at me. Oh, right this was Weiss we were talking about, so much for positive. "Excuse you! We were in the middle of something here!"

I felt my eye begin to twitch, but I kept my cool, "Right sorry. I'll leave you alone then."

I was about walk away, when a gentle voice asked, "Who is this Weiss?"

I turned to look at the redhead, and upon closer inspection I was almost certain I had seen her somewhere before. I was certain because just looking at her face sent a strange, yet pleasant, feeling to my stomach of all places.

Weiss sighed heavily, "This is… er… actually I never did get your name…"

I chuckled and held my and towards, "Name's Royal, nice to meet you."

She held her head high as she took my hand, "Likewise. I', Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the— "

"Schnee dust company." I finished for her, "I've heard."

She narrowed her eyes, "And of course you already know who this is, no doubt it's why you approached us."

I turned to the redhead. She really did look familiar, but for the life of me I could place her. "I can't say I do…"

For some reason, the girl seemed to brighten up at this. Weiss however was irate. "Seriously? You don't know who this is?"

I shrugged, "Should I?"

Weiss scoffed, "This is Pyrrha Nikos!"

Pyrrha waved happily, "Hello!"

I blinked, "Doesn't ring a bell."

"She graduated top of her class at sanctum! She's the four-time Champion of the Mistral regional tournament, a new record! Jeeze what kind of sheltered life did you live?"

I stifled a laugh at the irony of her statement, but was feeling very awkward about my lack of knowledge, "Good for her?"

Weiss groaned, "SHE'S ON THE FRONT OF EVERY PUMPKIN PETES MARSHMALLOW FLAKES BOX!"

That did it, "Ohhhhhh! That's why I remember you! you were the ultimate score!"

Pyrrha's cheeks went red and Weiss stared at me in disbelief, "I beg your pardon?"

I nodded excitedly, "Every time I found of box of that marshmallow goodness, it was an awesome day. I was wondering why my stomach felt strangely good every time I looked at you."

The girls breathed a sigh of relief for some reason, but then Weiss looked at me strangely, "What you mean "found". As in you didn't buy them?"

I rubbed the back of my head. By now I was beyond caring about people knowing how I grew up. But that didn't mean I was going to go out of my way to let them know. That's when they get all pitying and shit. But I wasn't going to lie either, "My dad and I didn't have a lot of money for food, so sometimes we had to… er… scrounge."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock in realization of what I meant, but Weiss didn't seem to get it. "You mean you had to look in the back of the pantry?"

I deadpanned, "Er, sort of. Except instead of a pantry it was a dumpster."

Weiss' face went green, "You ate out of the garbage! By the Brothers you must have been pretty poor, though I suppose it explains your…umm"

I raised an eyebrow, "Ratty wardrobe? It's fine, I've been meaning to buy some new clothes, I just haven't got the money yet."

"I see…" Weiss looked lost in thought, as if this was some eye-opening experience for her. seriously had she never met a poor person before?

I tried to lighten the mood, "But seriously I'd always wonder what the person who threw out Pumpkin Pete's was thinking. That stuff is delicious! I can't imagine how cool that must have been."

Pyrrha smiled shyly, "Yeah… sadly it's not very good for you."

I snorted, "Could have fooled me. Anyways before I forget Weiss, the reason I came over here was to say that I thought it was pretty impressive how you swallowed your pride like that, I didn't think you had it in you."

Weiss blushed but quickly looked away with her arms crossed, "Of course I had it in me. I am a Schnee after all."

I felt my sweat drop, "Right… anyways nice meeting you Pyrrha, I wish you both luck in Initiation."

Pyrrha waved and said, "To you as well!" While Weiss just huffed again. Yeah, she was definitely a work in progress.

As I walked out of the locker room towards the emerald forest, I wondered how all of them would do in a real fight. Guess we'll see.

Third Person POV

The scene opens up on a cliff overlooking the Emerald forest. Lined up on metal platforms were several of the first years, the others presumably being tested elsewhere, including Royal, Ruby, Yang, some bulky fellow, the Zen looking guy from the locker room, the hyper girl from the locker room, some Mohawk guy, Pyrrha, Weiss, and an assortment of side characters from there. To their left was Ozpin and Goodwitch.

As everyone was getting ready, Ruby and Yang were looking at Royal, who was inspecting each of his knives one last time be putting it back in his coat. Ruby spoke first, "Roy, we want to apologize for earlier. You're right, we shouldn't have pried."

Royal sighed before looking at them, "Don't worry about it, I can tend to be overly touchy about it, I'm sorry I was so harsh to you guys."

"Dude," Yang chimed in, "From what you've said, you're exactly the right amount of touchy about it."

Royal chuckled dryly at that, but before they could say more, Ozpin began to talk.

"For years you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin declared, "and today your abilities will be measured in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda continued, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow me to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given team mates. Today.

There was some excited muttering throughout the First years, except for two individuals: Ruby Rose, and Royal Belladonna.

Ruby was feeling anxious because she was notoriously bad at social interaction, and Royal, well, royal hadn't even considered the fact that he'd be put on a team until now. He worried whether it would cause problems later on, what with his own unique abilities.

Ozpin spoke again "These teammates will be with you throughout the remainder of your time at beacon, so it is within your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Ruby fidgeted some more at this, while Royal simply nodded in agreement.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Ruby's world shattered at that moment, while Royal just looked at Ozpin in shock, thinking how that couldn't possibly be an effective or efficient way of doing things. Surely some more thought was put into this right?"

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest, you will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Royal raised an eyebrow at this. Surely Ozpin had taken precautions to avoid the death of a student right? Jaune was a fine example of how not everyone who made their way into beacon was exactly "combat ready" at the get go. Surely Ozpin knew this right?

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene." Ozpin stated dryly

Okay… then that was just a slick way of saying there will be automated rescue bots out there instead…or something… right? Surely the headmaster couldn't be so cold as to let students die for real.

"you will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path. There each pair must take a relic and return it to the top of the cliff. Once you reach the top you will be graded appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Royal raised his hand, only or Ozpin to ignore him, "Good! Now, take your positons."

Royals eye began to twitch again. This guy did not just ignore him! Angered he spoke louder, "Hey Ozpin! My hand was raised!"

He was ignored as the people at the opposite end of the line started getting launched out one by one. Royal turned to Ozpin in shock, "Are you insane! How do you expect them to survive a fall like that?"

Ozpin sipped his coffee, "I have faith that you all will find your own landing strategy."

It was almost Royals turn now, Yang just shot off with a wink to Ruby. "And if they don't make one in time?" Royal asked.

Ozpin looked him dead in the eye as Ruby was launched, "Well then I suppose they'll die."

Royal realized right then that there was in fact no half-truths, no clever turns of phrase, and no lies in Ozpins speech. He was sending them out on their own. As Royal was launched, he could only say one thing

"YOU LAZY PRIIIIIIIICK!"

Ozpin just watched him fly off, not a hint of a reaction in his eyes.

Much to Royal's relief, everyone else seemed to be doing just fine in developing a landing strategy. Ruby had her scythe recoil, Weiss had strange snowflake thingies, Yang hand… shotgun gauntlets? Okay that's awesome. However, not as awesome as Pyrrha, who went full on badass, taking down trees in her path by plowing through with her shield.

Royal was doing just fine as well as he flew through the air, his hair and coat tail billowing in the wind.. He wasn't ever really worried about his own landing, he had a plan for that. To slow his fall, he built up aura on the bottoms of his feet and in the palms of his hand's before releasing it violently. It was similar to Comet launch, but on a larger scale, and requiring more Aura, so he was careful to only do it three times, using the force of the release to slow his descent and adjust his course towards a particularly thick looking tree.

When he was at the tree, he grew his claws and dug them into its bark, allowing him to grind to a halt down the trunk, leaving deep scratch marks as he went.

When he reached the ground, he dusted himself off, adjusted his coat, and set off to find someone.

He didn't have to walk long. Unfortunately the someone he found was a someones, and instead of people, they were a snarling pack of Beowolves.

Royal just smiled and got in a fighting stance, growing his claws once again. Once he found a partner, it was very likely that he wouldn't get to use them again for a long time, so he was going to make this count, "Bring it."

The pack all charged at once. There were about 10 of them at the beginning, but the number started dropping quickly as he easily jumped over the head of one, before landing behind and shoving his claws deep into its back. It died instantly and he moved on to the next. He moved fluidly, mixing martial arts' dodges and deflects, with his own calculated claw slashes.

Eventually a few got smart and snuck up behind him, each clamping on to his arms with their powerful jaws, but he activated his aura before they could do real damage. However, before he could get his arms free, a third rushed towards him from the front. So he did the only thing he could think of. He kneed the creature in the face.

Only sprouting from his kneecap was a long, silver barb, that pierced through the Beowolfs skull before receding back into the skin, which was now fading from black to his usual skin color.

As Royal freed his arms with an aura enhanced yank, and began to decimate the rest of the pack, his mind drifted back to when he first developed his new power.

 _He was fourteen, it had been almost a year since Ryo was taken from him, and he wasn't doing so well. He tried as hard as he could to get Taijitu extermination jobs, but not many people were willing to hire a child to kill Grimm, regardless of what he claimed to be capable of._

 _It had been several days since he had eaten. He had begun to use one of the first advanced aura techniques Royal taught him, which used his own aura to sustain himself from dying of starvation, however like most aura techniques, it had a time limit depending on the amount of aura you have, and Royal had reached his._

 _In a final act of desperation, he resorted to something Ryo told him never to do: stealing._

 _He attempted to take a couple apples from a fruit stand in the Vacuo marketplace, but due to a lack of focus due to hunger and weakness, he was soon caught and chased into an alleyway._

 _Royal knew that he would die if he didn't eat soon, so he curled up in a ball with the apples close to his chest as the vendor began to kick him, trying to let go. All the while Royal coughed out, "Please, please, please, please, please…"_

 _The vendor wasn't in a charitable mood however and continued kicking the boy. Royal just clenched his body and closed his eyes as he took each hit. It wasn't until he felt a rib crack that it happened._

 _His skin began to grow darker, and harder, and silver spikes started emerging from his back, causing the Vendor to scream and run away yelling "Monster!"_

 _As the spikes receded and his skin returned to normal. Royal began to weep while he ate the apples. Sure he was happy to get away with the food, but in his mind he had broken three promises to Ryo in one day: don't steal, don't develop new Grimm powers, and don't use said powers in front of others."_

Ryo shook himself back into the present. He really shouldn't zone out like that in the middle of a fight. However, as he was about to take down the last Beowolf, an orange and red spear appeared from the side, impaling the creature to a nearby tree with a loud _thunk_.

Royal POV

I quickly willed my claws away as I turned to see Pyrrha Nikos approaching in her trademarked Spartan armor. Thankfully it seemed like she didn't notice the claws, that or she didn't say anything about it. As we looked into each other's eyes, the clearing was silent save for the rustling of the trees.

That is until my stomach growled loudly, causing Pyrrha to cover her mouth as she giggled, and me to hang my head low in embarrassment.

"I guess you weren't kidding about the stomach thing." She chuckled.

I stood up straight, "You know what? Screw it. It's not my fault my mind subconsciously associates your face with food."

She nodded as if trying to act serious, but was failing miserably. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you partner. I must be quite lucky."

I looked at her curiously, "What do you mean? I'm the one who got paired with the four time winner of the mistral thunder dome or whatever."

She gestured around us at the now decaying Grimm, "I did that with a sword and shield. You did this barehanded, which if you ask me just as impressive, if not more so. Though I have to ask, do you prefer fighting without a weapon, or is there another reason?"

I shrugged, "I couldn't really afford one to be honest." I didn't correct her about the bare hands things. I could've done it without the claws, it would have just taken longer, "But that's okay. My friend Ruby, er, "offered" to help me build one after initiation." I wouldn't admit it, but I had been practically bursting with ideas. I couldn't help it, I had been fantasizing about a weapon of my own since I first saw a hunters weapon in Vacuo.

At this Pyrrha looked a bit disappointed, but before I could ask why she brightened up again, "She brightened up again, "Well perhaps I could assist the two of you! my Uncle Leo is a master blacksmith back in Mistral, and I picked up a few things from him."

I blinked, "That would be awesome! But seriously If it's too much trouble—"

She scoffed and walked past me, "Nonsense, we're partners now, nothing is too much trouble."

I turned to look at her go, walking off as if she knew exactly where she was going. I couldn't help but smile, as I followed after her.

As we made our way through the forest, we came across a few more Grimm. A couple Beowolves and a few Ursa all fell to a few slashes, some well-aimed knives and some well-placed strikes. Any that I knocked out I made sure to snap their neck before I left, feeling a bit awkward as Pyrrha watched me.

"You're a bit brutal aren't you?" she suddenly said as we were trekking along.

I froze, "I'm sorry I—"

"Oh no no!" She stopped me, "I didn't mean it in a bad way, I was just observing. You're ruthless, efficient, not showboaty. Too many people try to mix theatrics with fighting nowadays if you ask me."

I smirked, thinking about Ruby's crazy twists and spins with her beloved scythe, "Yeah but you have to admit: some people make it work."

She shrugged. As we continued walking however, she asked the question I was waiting for.

"Theirs a bit more to you're fighting style than just skill isn't there?"

I chuckled, "What? You don't think all that was just pure muscle and skill?"

Her eyes widened, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean—"

"Kidding!" I stopped her, "Just messing with you, sorry. I figured you'd notice eventually."

She actually looked at me with a hint of irritation in her eyes, "So it is something else. Your semblance?"

I shook my head. "Aura. Aura manipulation to be precise."

She looked at me in surprise as she moved a branch out of her way, before letting it go, causing me to have to duck to narrowly avoid getting hit, "Oh sorry! But I didn't know that there was such a thing."

I nodded, "That makes sense, as far as I know only a few families practiced it, and they kept it close to their chests. I can use it for a lot more than defense."

She raised an eyebrow, "Such as?"

I shrugged, "Physical enhancements, making myself stronger or faster, more so than just activating your aura accomplishes, also aura projection, that has a lot of uses, really it's up to your own imagination and aura count."

She looked intrigued "Really? May I see a demonstration? If it's not too much trouble."

"Sure." I closed my eyes, and focused on extending my aura.

When I opened them, I was floating in the air, suspended in my glowing purple aura Avatar, which towered several feet over Pyrrha's head.

She stared up at me in awe, "Amazing… you have to teach me how to do that!"

I laughed as I shrunk back down, "That's a scary thought. Like you weren't enough of a badass already! I had to use several speed enhancements back there just to keep up with you."

She stopped and turned to me with a hand on her hip." So you won't teach me?"

I patted her on the shoulder, "Relax, I'll try my best to teach you how, though I can't promise that I'll be a good teacher."

She smiled, "Deal. Now come on, that cave up there looks promising."

I looked where she was pointing, there was indeed a cave on the side of a rock wall, "You think that's where the relics are?"

She shrugged, "That or a shortcut to them, worth a try, right?"

I nodded and followed he inside. We made a torch by striking one of my stone knives against her shield, which acted as the flint to create sparks. I took the torch and lead the way.

The farther in we went however, he less sure I was that this was anything but trouble, "Uh Pyrrha, maybe we should head back…"

"No wait!" she said, "I see a light up a head.

she jogged forward, making me have to jog to keep up, and we soon entered the room of said light, which was hovering in midair.

And attached to a deathstalker,

I felt my heart begin to pound as I stared at the menacing creature in front of me, the same type of creature I faced with Ryo right before I died. Unable to stop myself, my mind started replaying the scene over and over again in my head.

Next thing I knew I was sprinting out of the cave, with a very confused, and slightly embarrassed, Pyrrha Nikos in my arms, "Royal! Royal I can walk by myself, it's okay we can face it together! Royal? Royal!"

I could hear her, but her words weren't registering. All that could occupy my head was my father falling off that cliff, over and over again, after fighting that creature, and the overwhelming urge to never let anything like it happen ever again.

Third person POV 

Pyrrha was starting to get scared, no matter what she said Royal would not respond, he just kept running through the emerald forest at insane speeds, covering several yards with each step.

Finally they burst through the trees, into a clearing where the ruins were. Blake and Yang were already there, having collected their chess piece. When they saw Royal enter carrying Pyrrha, they rushed forward, thinking she was injured.

However, as they drew closer, Pyrrha started struggling in his arms to get free, but was having trouble, "Stop him!"

The duo didn't know what was going on but they got the message. Yang squared her shoulders and met him head on, stopping him in his tracks while Blake looped her weapons chain around his neck to pull him back. Even with them both working to hold them back, they were still beginning to lose footing, "Jeeze how strong is this guy!?" Blake exclaimed as his neck strained against her chain.

Yang was silent however as she looked into his eyes. They were frantic and terrified, darting left and right for something or other, not truly seeing her. she looked down at Pyrrha, "What happened?"

Pyrrha was lost, "I don't know! He was fine until we saw a death stalker in a nearby cave! Next thing I know he had picked up and we were going the other way, it's like he can't hear us..."

Yang sighed, "More than "like". I'm going to have to break him out of it."

Blake looked up still struggling, "How?"

'Like this." Yang suddenly backed up and punched Royal square in the jaw, sending him, and an unlucky Pyrrha flying.

They landed near the steps of the ruins, Royal groaning and coughing as Pyrrha quickly got to her feet and helped him on to his back, brushing his hair to the side as he had a coughing fit.

Once he was done he looked around, "What the fu—weren't we just at the cave! Where's the deathstalker?"

Pyrrha looked at him in disbelief, "You took one look at it and ran, carrying me with you and ignoring my words. You mean to say you blacked out?"

Blake put her weapon away and said, "Let me guess, your "arachnophobia"? or are you just a coward?"

"Stop!" Yang yelled, causing everyone to look at her in surprise, especially Royal, who had been content to take the verbal barrage. Yang stepped towards Royal before pulling him into a hug.

Royal blinked, 'I'm very lost right now."

Yang chuckled and whispered into his ear, "You got stuck remembering. I could tell from your eyes, they had the same look in them as my dad's when he remembered Ruby's mom." Royal stayed quiet, but was much less confused now.

Yang pulled back, "I don't expect you to tell me anything, but you should at least let Pyrrha know, she is your partner after all."

Royal looked like he about to protest, but one look back at Pyrrha's worried face shut him up. He nodded and went to go see her.

He rubbed the back of his head, "Hey, sorry about that, I sort of lost my head there "

She scoffed, "I'll say. But I'll forgive you, cause I don't think you meant any harm. Just try to stay with us okay?"

He nodded, then looked at the relics, "So which one should we pick? I'm assuming that these are the actual ruins,"

Pyrrha chuckled nervously, "Yeah that cave seemed like a bad idea in hindsight. How about—"

"HEADS UUUUP!"

Everyone looked up, to see Ruby Rose literally falling out of the sky. Everyone got ready to catch her, but Royal was fastest, he jumped high to meet her midair, looping an arm around her waist before plummeting towards the tree line, where he expertly slowed their fall by falling through the leaves and branches, before landing lightly on a sturdy branch.

Blake and Yang watched this in awe, "Did your sister just fall out of the sky?"

"I—" Yang was cut off by a crashing on the other side of the clearing

an enormous Ursa had emerged from the tree line and was roaring savagely, until there was a pink flash behind it's back. Suddenly it fell forward, dead, causing it's hyperactive passenger to fall off as well and look back sadly, "Aww! It's broken!"

'

An out of breath Lie Ren emerged behind them a moment later, "Nora… please… don't ever do that again." He then looked up and realized she was already gone.

Over at the relics, she was eyeing the white rook piece, before snatching it up and singing, "I'm queen of the cas-tle! I'm queen of the cas-tle!"

"NORAAA!" Ren yelled angrily, causing her to chuckle nervously before skipping back to him, "Coming Ren!

Blake spoke again, "Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?"

"I…" Yang was once again cut off by a familiar screech. On yet another side of the clearing, the deathstalker emerged, taking down many trees in its path and roaring angrily at Royal and Pyrrha, angered over having to travel so far for its prey.

Ruby and Royal jumped down from the trees, and rejoined the group, Ruby going straight for Yang.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed as she lifted her arms to hug her sister,

"Yang!" Ruby replied happily, lifting her arms to do the same,

before they could embrace however, Nora sprang out of nowhere between them, "NORA!" causing them both to fall back slightly in fright.

Suddenly they heard above them, "How could you leave me?'

They looked up to see Weiss dangling helplessly from the talon of a giant Nevermore. Ruby called up, "I said jump!"

"She's going to fall." Blake stated matter-of-factly.

"She'll be fine." Ruby assured her, though mostly herself.

"She's falling." Ren stated calmly.

Royal groaned in annoyance, "I got her."

He repeated the process he dead with Ruby, bringing Weiss safely to the ground, who quickly shoved him off, "Watch where you're touching!"

Royal smiled thinly, "And you're welcome." He then turned and walked away, making it easier for Weiss to hide her blush."

"Great the gangs all here!" Yang exclaimed as the Deathstalker began to charge at them, "Now we can die together!"

Ruby stepped forward, "Not if I can help it!" then shot off in a blur of rose petals. Royal's eyes widened at his, "Ruby NO!"

However, she didn't listen, and as fast as Royal was he couldn't keep up with her speed at all, yet he still ran forward, struggling to keep his mind grounded as he watched the Deathstalker bat her away easily.

Yang followed as well, but had to stop to avoid being skewered by a volley of Nevermore feathers that also pinned down Ruby's cape, keeping her from escaping. The blonde brawler watched as royals silver hair fly behind him as he skillfully evaded each one as he never stopped moving towards ruby, especially since the Death stalker was now bearing down on her.

As she closed her eyes, waiting for the final strike, a strange _crunch_ was heard.

Slowly she opened her eyes, realizing quickly that she wasn't dead. Instead she saw the purple leather of Royal's coat, behind the shining silver of his hair standing before her, his arms raised towards the stinger that was coming down on her. she felt relief flood through her body. until she saw the blood begin to drip.

Her eyes widened at that and she quickly ripped the feather pinning her out of the ground with newfound strength, before picking up Crescent Rose and rushing to his side to see how badly he was hurt. What she saw almost threatened to release her breakfast.

The crunch she heard earlier was the sound of the stinger piercing through his chest, obliterating the bones of his sternum and ribcage. His hands resting on either side of it showed that he was trying to stop it, but failed miserably. Blood was leaking out of her friend's mouth as he turned to her with eyes filled with agony. It

"That went better in my head…"

 **CHAPTER 4!**

 **To any readers who are knew to my work, if you don't like cliffhangers you are shit out of luck. Though, I wonder if you can predict what will happen next...**


	5. Chapter 5

Royal POV

Fun fact: getting stabbed in the chest by a Deathstalker stinger sucks ass. Honestly, how big an idiot could I be? I had forsaken defensive aura for strengthening my arms as I tried to catch the deathstalker stinger, only to find that it was much stronger than I had anticipated, managing only to keep it from piercing all the way through my body. Either this one was much older and more powerful than the one Ryo and I faced, or Ryo was a lot more badass than I had originally thought.

The last time I died, I was six and it was from a simple snake bite, but I remembered the experience, so I wasn't too disconcerted when instead of going into some bright light, or ascending to the heavenly home of the Brothers, I instead just fell into a sleep-like state. Then came the gross part.

I can only describe it as "waking up", only I'm in a new body, a larger, more powerful body. last time, I remember waking up in very hot, very cramped, and very wet space, which I was horrified to learn was the corpse of my human form. Emerging from it was not a pleasant experience either, though I don't know if climbing out of the guts of a corpse could ever be made pleasant.

This time, I woke up to the familiar sensation of my Beowolf form, rapidly growing inside my body. I had half a mind to try to stay in there to save Ruby and the others any further emotional scarring, but that's when things went differently than last time.

I kept growing, larger than I had before, likely due to my larger size. I felt and heard a grows squelching sound, which I can only assume was the Deathstalker removing its stinger, probably wondering what the fuck was going on with its kill. My form got larger, and larger, stretching the damp walls around me more and more, until finally they burst in an explosion of blood.

The light hit me hard, making me squint my now extremely sensitive eyes behind my silver mask. Beowolves, like most Grimm, are able to see in total darkness,, which means daylight is lot brighter to them than it is for humans, so I had to take a moment to adjust before I could look around me. I also took note that the clearing was dead silent, aside from the occasional shrieking of the nevermore above, which slightly hurt my now enhanced hearing.

As expected, it wasn't ideal, instead of simply emerging from my human form, I burst it open like a balloon, leaving a pile of bloody flesh and clothing underneath me. The death stalker in front of me was looking at me in shock… wait… yes …. I could actually sense what it was emoting. Of course it didn't have many complex thoughts it was a primal creature after all, but I could sense it's basic intent, it was more curious at the moment than bloodthirsty, it probably recognized me as a very unique version of its own kind, and seemed to be uncertain if I was friend or a foe. That led me to look down at my new form in curiosity, and I was not disappointed.

I had the form of a regular Beowolf, with spikes running down my back and forearms, etc. however I had one addition: large pectoral coverings, similar to how Ryo described beringals were armored, with abdominal plates underneath, all in shining silver of course. My new form had to be at least seven feet tall judging by how big the Deathstalker looked now compared to before. Then I remembered Ruby.

I twisted my body around to look behind me, and saw her staring up at me in horror, eyes wide and legs trembling, she had a speck of blood on her face, but somehow avoided the majority of my innards, that was a relief, but it broke my heart to see the once innocent and joyful girl stare up at in me In absolute horror and disgust. As if this situation could get stranger: looking into her sliver eyes, I felt a part of me, an instinct, screaming at me to run the other way, I ignored it, but it puzzled me, how can anything look at Ruby (aside from her Scythe) and feel fear) When I looked down at my feet though, my heart was ripped out of my chest.

My coat was lying on the ground, among my corpse. Somehow, as I emerged, I had ripped the purple, leather sleeves all the way up to the shoulders, effectively ruining it.

In my sorrow I turned fully around, looking past Ruby to see that the others were staring as well, some looked like they were about to vomit (i.e. Weiss) all were horrified, and tensed up when I turned, readying their weapons, especially Yang,

Ruby however, couldn't seem to move an inch, her scythe frozen in her hands as she stared at me. I wanted so badly to tell her it was me, that it was alright, but any sound out of this snout would be nothing more than a roar, likely to terrify her more.

Then I had an idea, I bent down to pick up my coat. however the movement seemed to set off the other students, as Yang suddenly sprinted toward me, yelling, "Get away from her!" The others followed behind her, I wasn't surprised by this, I mean I just emerged from their former classmates corpse, but I didn't mind them as I picked up the bloody coat, carefully holding it in my enormous hands quickly flicking the blood off of it, similar to how I cleaned Yang's boots. It seemed this form was a lot stronger than my human form.

As the others continued to stream towards me, I wrapped the now clean, tattered cloak around Ruby's trembling form, as gently as I could. To my delight, her trembling stopped as she looked at me. I tried to look as non-threatening as I could, as I pointed a clawed finger at the coat draped on her, and then at me. By the grace of the Brothers, she seemed to get the message.

"R-Royal?" She asked hopefully. I wanted to leap for joy, but instead I just nodded happily. However the moment was soon ruined as I saw her eyes widen, and I heard movement behind me.

I whipped around just in time to catch the pincer of the Deathstalker, which had apparently decided that I was a threat as it now radiated bloodlust. As I held the pincer with both hands, I marveled at my newfound strength, greater than I ever had with aura enhancement. I let go with one hand and in a swift motion, sliced through the limb with my claws, taking it clean off and making the creature crawl backwards, shrieking in agony.

I turned back to make sure Ruby was okay, only to be met with a yellow coated fist to the face, knocking me flat on the ground. I let out a rumbling groan, before opening my eyes to see Yang standing over me, eyes slightly read, and a fist raised to strike again. The others had surrounded me, all leveling their weapons on me all sharing similar expressions of disgust and grief."

Yang glared down at me, "I don't know what you are, but you're going to die for what you did to Royal." She then started hitting me in the face repeatedly, causing me to groan in pain with each hit.

I wanted to raise my arms and defend myself, but I figured that any action against them wouldn't end well, so I fought the urge and took the hits while I tried to think of a better strategy, when Ruby came to my rescue. She rushed over to my side and held on to Yang's arm for dear life, "Yang stop!"

Yang complied, allowing me to open my eyes to see her full on crying now, dripping tears down onto my chest, "Let go Ruby. Whatever it is, it destroyed Roy!"

Ruby shook her head, "No! I saw it! It came out of him! I think…. I think this _is_ Royal."

Yang looked at her in disbelief, while Weiss chimed in "Are you out of your mind? In case you haven't noticed Royal's, body is in – _covers her mouth_ —pieces!"

Ruby didn't relent, "I don't know how or why but look at him! He's obviously not a normal Grimm, and his eyes are purple just like Royals!"

As they continued to argue, I kept an eye on the two-other grim in the equation. The Deathstalker was still recovering from the severed limb, but the Nevermore was coming in for a strike, and none of the others were noticing it.

With a growl, I quickly grabbed Yang and Ruby, ignoring Yang's attacks that actually cracked part of my chest armor, as well as the sudden barrage of fire from the others weapons as I flipped over so I was shielding the sisters with my back, just as the Nevermore raked it's talons at us. I howled in pain at the influx of damage from everything at once, but then I felt a familiar, yet unexpected sensation.

The others stopped firing as well, and Yang stopped punching me as they all stared at me. I felt relief as they all now knew that I was more than just a monster. And Ruby looked up with a huge smile. "I told you!"

The thing is: Grimm don't have aura or souls or anything like that, but right now my body was glowing purple as my wounds healed and my armor fixed itself. I lifted myself off of Yang and ruby and sat back on my awkwardly bent knees, before looking up to see the once tearful face of my new partner at Beacon. She was looking at me in wonder, but still cautious, until my stomach suddenly growled as we looked at each other, causing her to smile.

"It's him."

Third Person POV 

As everyone finally began to wrap their head around the fact that their classmate had horrifically transferred their consciousness into a silver armored Beowolf form, they were reminded yet again that they were currently under attack by two extremely powerful Grimm, as the Deathstalker charged toward them, causing them to scatter to get out of the way, ruby quickly rolled up the coat and stuffed it in her hood for safe keeping, though how she expected it to stay there was anyone's guess. Royal followed them for now, but began frantically ushering them away from the scene, hoping to take care of this himself.

The others seemed to understand but didn't appear to agree. "You want us to leave? No!" Ruby exclaimed, "You can turn into a hundred-foot tall beringal for all I care I'm not going to just abandon you now!"

Royal growled in annoyance, literally, before shaking his head in exasperation. The then held up both fists, holding them together, before pulling them apart and pointing at the two Grimm simultaneously.

Ren understood first, "Split up? That's a good idea. We should split into groups of four."

"I'm not doing anything with that thing!" Weiss spat, "I don't care who or what it claims to have been before. Besides, our objective is right in front of us, what reason do we have to fight—"

Right on cue the Nevermore attempted to dive bomb the group, it would have crushed them too, if Royal hadn't leaped up and struck the creature in the side of the head, causing it to shriek angrily before flapping away.

'I don't think they're going to give us much of a choice!" Ruby answered.

Royal felt a bit hurt at Weiss' words as he landed effortlessly on the ground, but of course couldn't blame her. luckily Pyrrha spoke up, "He's my partner, I'll fight with him."

"In that case, Weiss, Yang, Blake and I will take the Nevermore, Royal, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora can take the Deathstalker, is everyone good with that?"

Everyone nodded except for Royal, who actually meant for all them to fight the Nevermore while he finished the deathstalker, but he begrudgingly accepted.

They the scattered again as the Nevermore shot a volley of feathers where they were standing, while Royal dodged some and knocked others aside before roaring up at it in annoyance.

Ruby called out, "We should move! We need more cover!"

Everyone agreed and after everyone had gotten their relics, followed her lead, sprinting out of the clearing towards the cliffs. Royal took up the rear, running on all fours and turning around occasionally to take a few swipes to keep the Deathstalker at bay, before quickly catching up.

They soon reached what appeared to be an ancient tower near the cliff with a spider web of pathways going in every which way. It provided some cover for them while the Nevermore took up a perch on some of the ruins, waiting for them to come out, while the Death Stalker charged at them from the ground, pushing them further and further into the into the ruins.

It was then that the two groups split up, Ruby's team taking a more mobile approach to take on the Nevermore, while Royal's team took the Deathstalker on the ground.

Due to lack of ability to communicate with his teammates, Royal elected to just charge in first, and create opportunities for them. He leapt over the death stalker, before quickly grabbing the tail to his chest, keeping it still as Ren ran followed, leaping over the creature's pincer and running up its back and pegging the base of the stinger with his submachine guns weakening the connective tissue before jumping out of the way to make way for Pyrrha's shield, which sliced right through it, severing the stinger and causing Royal to duck in surprise, having not seen her do that before. He was even more surprised as it somehow magically returned to her hand like boomerang. He had a feeling that that involved more than just skill.

Due to Royal crouching, he pulled the tail back with him, so the stinger fell backwards and imbedded itself on the ground, giving him an idea.

He temporarily let go of the tail to pick the stinger up, before jumping into the air with it raised above his head, before slamming it down onto its head, making it shriek in agony. However, it was somehow still kicking, so Royal pinned it down and looked over at Nora, pointing at the top meaningfully. She smiled gleefully obviously getting my meaning.

"Hey Pyrrha, can I get a boost!" She asked the champion, who nodded and crouched down with her shield over her head, giving Nora a makeshift launch pad, which she used with a whoop of joy, flying high into the air, and shifting her weapon into its explosive hammer form, using a small blast to boost her momentum. She ended up spinning violently down until her hammer made contact with the top of the stinger , nailing it so far into the creature, it went through and destroyed the platform underneath, sending it plummeting down into the valley below as its killers all jumped to solid land easily, just in time to witness what had to be the most epic Nevermore takedown in history, ending with a headless Nevermore, and Ruby standing victoriously on the top of the cliff.

There was a moment of silence as we stared up in her in awe and enjoyed our victory. But it ended as she hopped over the side, digging her scythe blade into the side of the cliff to slide back down to us.

When everyone had reconvened, all eyes were now on Royal, who felt a strange need to tuck his tail between his legs.

"Before anything else," Pyrrha began, "Please tell us you can change back."

Royal nodded assuredly, causing a sigh of relief, to resound throughout the group. "Alright then can you change back now?" Ruby asked happily.

The purple eyed Beowolf suddenly looked uncannily like he was embarrassed. Royal slowly shook his head, and pointed over to some trees, signaling that he wanted to change over there, however he went stiff as he felt the tip of a certain heiress' rapier poking into his back, "Just be clear, I'm still not convinced you're not some new form of Grimm that is simply intelligent enough to lead us on up till now, so I suggest you change right now, or I will freeze you where you stand.

A look around at the others faces revealed to Royal that they all had similar concerns, so he hung his head in defeat and nodded, before bending down to his knees and closing his eyes.

A few moments passed by then as he focused on calming down and picturing his human form. The others were nearing the end of their patience, when he suddenly slumped forward, not moving.

"Royal!" Pyrrha ran forward to his side to check on him. Ruby wanted to as well, but a hand from Yang stopped her. The blonde wanted to believe it was him as well, but she knew there was always a chance that it wasn't.

However all sense of caution left when Pyrrha gasped, "He's not breathing!"

Everyone except for Weiss rushed to him and worked together to roll him over on his back, his lumbering, armored mass was a lot heavier than it looked.

Before they could decide if CPR was a valid option to use on a Grimm, the body began to dissolve, just like regular Grimm do when they die, however as it faded, it revealed the toned, tanned body of Royal, coughing black smoke and shivering slightly, despite the warm temperature. They all looked at him with joy, until they looked a little lower, and then almost all of them looked away.

Yang had a thoughtful look on her face as she observed Royal in all his nude glory, "I see… not bad Roy."

Roy finished coughing and looked at her curiously before he realized what she was looking at. He covered himself up quickly, "Shit! This is why I wanted to change in the tree's"

Weiss, who was covering his form with her hand while looking away, responded, "Who are you yelling at? You're the one who's shamelessly exposing himself!"

Royal growled, a little more animalistic than anyone was comfortable with, "Does anyone have anything I can cover with?"

Ruby, who was looking away with her hands covering her bright red face, reached into the back of her hood without looking and pulled out his ripped coat before handing it to him, as it had miraculously managed to stay rolled up in her hood. He took it gratefully and wrapped it around himself, sighing at the sight of the ripped sleeves, he'd have to fix up the sleeves and shoulders if he wanted to wear it again, otherwise it would slip right off.

When Royal was covered up, everyone looked back at him, all with one question in mind, but none sure how to ask it, except for one.

"What in the name of the Brothers _are_ you?" Weiss asked impatiently.

Everyone looked at Royal expectantly, while he felt the urge to sink back into his own hair, if only

"Uh… I'm not really sure…" He admitted embarrassedly. Everyone looked at him in disbelief.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Nora spoke up, with more curiosity than animosity.

Royal sighed, "It's a long story, my life story actually. And I swear that I will tell you, all of it, but I'd rather not do it while I'm naked, and I think the headmaster might be wondering about us at this point, so for now, can you please just trust me when I say that I'll explain everything later and that I don't want to make trouble?"

The others took a moment to consider it, before Ruby spoke first, "Okay! I'll trust you."

Weiss scoffed, "Seriously? Just like that you'll trust someone who turned into a Grimm in front of you, and in a most _disgusting_ manner by the way, because of a little speech? You really are a child."

Ruby glared, "It's not "just like that"! He's done nothing but fight for and protect everyone he could this whole time!"

Ren spoke up, "Even if he does turn out some new form of Grimm made for infiltration or something, something I do not believe by the way, he is obviously intelligent enough to learn and make his own decisions, so worst-case scenario, we'll have an amazing new specimen to study, or even convert, no offense Royal."

"None taken."

Weiss huffed again but didn't protest anymore, Yang raised her fist in the air, startling Blake next to her as she yelled, "It's settled then! We won't kill Royal!"

Said person raised their own fist halfheartedly, "Woo."

Blake spoke up, "But you will tell us _everything_ later. Okay?"

Royal nodded eagerly, and they set off, their Initiation finally done.

Royal POV 

"…Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark, the four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward the four of you will work together as team CRDL (Cardinal), lead by… Cardin Winchester."

There was a round of applause in the auditorium as the four walked off stage. We were currently at the post-Initiation ceremony, being assigned our teams. I was standing in the crowd next to Pyrrha and the others, when my name was called.

"Pyrrha Nikos, Royal Belladonna, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie."

We all walked on stage and stood at attention before Ozpin, I was still ticked off at him for his complete lack of precaution during the initiation, but since no one, (myself excluded) got hurt I wasn't going to make fuss and ruin the day for everyone. I was a bit uncomfortable in the clothes Ren provided for me, they were a bit too slim and flowy for my tastes, but they were soft as fuck. When we were questioned about my lack of clothing when I we turned in the Relic, I made up some BS story about how they were falling apart already and that the test finally did them in, which was true, but not the full truth. It was acceptable though, and here we were. However, I still shivered at the lack of my coat, which I had stored in the locker where I was supposed to keep my weapons. I didn't know how to sew or anything, so I'd have to get help to figure out if it can be saved.

My attention was returned to the Ceremony as Ozpin spoke, "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces, together you will work as team RPRN (Reparation)"

I held in a snort at the name. Was that really the best he could come up with? However, my internal musings were cut off as he said, "Led by… Royal Belladonna!"

I blinked in surprise as he stepped towards me and shook my hand, "Congratulations young man." He then leaned a bit closer and looked into my eyes, before whispering, "Come to my office after the Ceremony, there are some things I need to discuss."

I felt my heart stop, in realization of what this could mean. I simply nodded stiffly. He pulled back and patted me on the shoulder, sending me off the stage.

As we stepped down, He called up Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss, half of whom were smiling and giving us high fives as we passed. The two who weren't were Weiss, who was busy being herself, and Blake, who was busy glaring at me for some reason as she passed by.

As they went up and were given their team name (Really? RWBY? Is this guy even trying?) Pyrrha suddenly nudged me, "I didn't know you and Blake had the same last name, are you two related are something?"

And as Ruby was announced as the leader, I wanted to cheer for her, I really did, but I was too busy realizing just deep in shit I really was at the moment, as my father's niece stared at me suspiciously from on stage.

After all the teams were named, the people filed out of the auditorium. I subtly snuck away from the group when they weren't looking (which wasn't easy considering Blake was practically trying to murder me with her eyes most of the time) and made my way towards Ozpin's office, learning directions from the posted maps all over the school, as well as following the strongest scent of coffee. I didn't want them to know where I was going, because I didn't want them to freak out. I was freaking out enough on my own, I didn't need help.

The elevator music on the way up was horrible, like every other elevator, but I was less worried about that and more worried about how I was going to talk my way out of this. I doubt I could win in a fight with the headmaster of a school of warriors, so I was going to try my best not to let it come to that.

After what felt like forever, the doors finally opened to reveal Ozpins office, where the headmaster was sitting with Goodwitch standing to the side. How he got there before me didn't really compute, secret passage maybe? It's his school after all.

"Mr. Belladonna, thank you for joining us. Please have a seat." Ozpin said. He didn't seem too hostile, but the blonde was staring at me with narrowed eyes as I approached the chair.

Once I was seated Ozpin picked up a scroll, "Let me just cut to the chase, I brought you in here because I was curious how you would explain this" He pulled up a video of me with the stinger in my chest, before I changed into my Beowolf form, which by the way looked very badass from this angle, not that that's important. Then switched to a view of me using my claws and growing the spike to kill the Beowolves. Hidden cameras…I should have known.

As I looked up to meet Ozpin's expressionless eyes, I quickly tossed out any thoughts of trying to lie my way out. This man was obviously too smart for that, and the way Goodwitch was slapping her Riding crop into her hand was freaking me out, so I decided to tell the truth.

"To be honest, I can't… that's only happened once before maybe twice, and I still don't know why it happens, only that it does. But I swear I've never used the power against another human, only Grimm!"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "That is certainly reassuring to hear. But I am interested, were you born this way, or perhaps something happened?"

I shrugged, "Like I said, I don't know, my dad found me as a baby in the corpse of a small Beowolf the same silver armor."

He nodded and looked thoughtful, "And what happened the other time you transformed?"

I shifted in my seat, "I was bit by a Taijitu. After I, uh, "died" I guess you could say, I transformed into a Grimm, and then back again when I calmed down and focused on my human form. Again, I don't know why this is, or why it works, it just does."

He nodded, "I see… and do you know the limits of this ability?"

I shook my head, "I didn't think it would be a good idea to experiment, seeing as it seems to activate upon my death and all."

He actually smirked, "A wise decision I'm sure. Very well then, you may go."

I gaped as him in shock, and Goodwitch looked at him angrily, "But sir he's a liability to the other students!"

Ozpin didn't falter, "All his actions up to now have indicated quite the opposite. And as of today, he's a student here as well, and will be treated as such." he looked at me pointedly, "However keep in mind Mr. belladonna, that if you choose to use these abilities to harm anyone here, we will have no choice but to stop you. your abilities may be powerful, but— "

"There's always a bigger fish." I finished for him, "I get the idea."

He smiled, "Good. Also, I will leave it up to you when and if you want to tell any or all of the other students about your abilities. I should tell you that we will be taking samples from the, ahem, remains you left behind, and I do suggest that you attempt to further your control over the, less obvious abilities you possess, I would of course never ask you to kill yourself for the sake of training, but the claws, the spike, appear to me to be only the tip of the iceberg of your potential. I'm very interested to see what it looks like when you fully master them."

I rolled his words round in my head. I couldn't find the catch in it and I didn't think I was going to until he felt the need to tell me. so, I simply nodded my head, "Thank you sir!"

He nodded back, "You're quite welcome. Now go on, your team is probably wondering where you are. Send them my greetings, and have a good night's sleep."

I thanked him and got up from my seat, walking towards the elevator in a bit of a daze, before I couldn't take it anymore. I turned around, "Sir?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Why aren't you locking me up or sending me to the government to be experimented on?"

Goodwitch seemed to nod as if she was thinking the same thing, but Ozpin actually _chuckled_ , "Would you like me to, Mr. Belladonna?"

My eyes widened, "NO! I mean, no sir…"

"Then have a good night, you do have class tomorrow you know."

As I walked through the dorm halls, I kept rerunning my conversation with Ozpin in my head, wondering what his objective really was, but coming up with noting. Maybe he was just a wise old headmaster who didn't have any ulterior motives or deep dark secrets.

I stood outside my assigned dorm room, mentally preparing myself and considering exactly what I was going to say. Finally, I reached for the doorknob, however before I even touched it, the door was pulled open, revealing that Team Ruby was inside alongside my own team, all looking at me impatiently.

At the front was Ruby, who to my absolute horror, looked angry as well, "Where were you!"

"I uhhh…" before I could remember how to talk the young girl yanked me into the dorm, slamming the dorm behind me as I was thrust into the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by angry inquirers.

"Now tell us where you were!" Ruby demanded,

"Who cares?" Blake yelled, "I want to know why he has the last name as me! I've never even met you before!"

"Why can you turn into a Grimm?!"

"Do you like pancakes?"

I was overwhelmed with the influx of questions, and confused by that last one, so I rose my voice, "ALL RIGHT! Just let me talk!"

They all quieted down and waited patiently for me to start. I sighed and began, "It all started when my dad found me in the Vacuon desert…"

 **Chapter 5!**

 **Sorry about that last cliffhanger, not that I feel bad about leaving you hanging, but that it wasn't very high quality. Only one person screamed at me in the reviews, and that just won't do.**

 **Anyways leave reviews and such yadayada. See you next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

Royal POV

I leaned uncomfortably against the wall of the dorm room as I was surrounded by my inquisitive classmates, who were waiting for me to tell them how I got my powers, why I had Blake's last name and all that. I wasn't sure they were going to like my answer.

"Okay, it all started, so I'm told, when Blake's uncle Ryo, left Menagerie." I began.

Blake's eyes widened at the mention of her uncle, "Uncle Ryo… mom told me he went on a mission and never came back."

I raised an eyebrow, "Well, the way he told it to me was: he was forced to leave. Some people wanted him gone, he didn't know who or why, but he was convinced when they went after you. Do you remember being shot through the shoulder when you were little?"

She rubbed her shoulder, while everyone else looked at her in shock, "I don't remember it, but the scar is still there."

"Wait a minute." Yang interrupted. "You mean that Blake grew up in Menagerie? Isn't that place only populated by…"

Blake stiffened at what she was insinuating, as did I. I didn't mean to out Blake without her permission, but of course it was the first thing I did. I looked at her apologetically, but she just rolled her eyes and pulled off her ribbon, revealing her black cat ears to the room, most of whom swooned at how adorable they were.

In a flash, Nora was next to her, practically trembling as she stared at them, "Those are so cuuute! Can I pet them? Wait is that offensive? Is calling them cute offensive? Ohhhh I really want to pet them."

Blake just sighed, "Go ahead."

Nora squealed with joy and began to stroke them tenderly, while Blake used all her willpower not to lean into it as she looked around the room, "I'm sorry for hiding it, but I don't think I need to explain how some people are around Faunus."

"Well I think I can speak for everyone when I say that that you won't have any trouble with that from us." Pyrrha reassured her, and was followed by nods and humms by everyone here.

"Precisely," Weiss chimed up, "Unless you were part of the White Fang or something."

I felt my sweat drop while Blake looked away nervously. This did not go unnoticed by Weiss, so I decided to try and save it, "Before you jump to conclusions, Ryo told me that Blake's dad was the former leader of the White Fang from back when they were peaceful protesters. I'm sure she's never done anything criminal or violent, right Blake?"

Again, she looked away, and I felt my heart drop, "Really?" I asked exasperated.

She looked sad, "I've made some mistakes, done some things I've not proud of. Which is why I left. I'm not a part of the White Fang anymore."

I looked back at Weiss, who still looked a bit unhappy, but I couldn't tell if that wasn't just her resting expression. When she didn't say anything more, Blake spoke again. "So, you knew my uncle?"

I nodded, "He raised me. When he left Menagerie, he went to Vacuo, hoping whoever was after him wouldn't find him there. Vacuo is mostly without the troubles of racism, due to their rule: whoever can survive there is welcome there. On his trek across the desert, he found me, in the middle of nowhere."

Ruby gasped, "Isn't that desert swarming with Taijitu and other thing? How did you survive as a baby?"

I shrugged, "When he found me, I wasn't human. I was a baby sized Beowolf with silver plating, that had just died of starvation. That's when I emerged as the body faded. He took me in and raised me in Vacuo, but since he didn't anticipate having a kid to take care of, we lived on the streets, eating what little we could whenever we could. All in all, it was a pretty okay childhood."

Some were shocked at the idea that growing up homeless could be considered an "okay childhood" but others were eager to learn more, "So did you know about your powers growing up?" Yang asked.

I shook my head, "I didn't find out until I was six, when I got bit by a taijitu and turned into it, if it wasn't for Ryo I probably would have freaked out and gotten myself killed, luckily we found a way to turn me back, and he then got me started on my training."

"And that's when you learned to control your powers?" Ruby asked.

I shook my head again, "That's when Ryo taught me Aura control.

This received confused looks from most of the group, except for Pyrrha and, to my surprise, Ren and Nora, who looked more intrigued.

"You were taught the ways of Aura manipulation?" Ren asked.

I nodded, "I take it you were as well?"

He looked down, "My father was teaching me, but before I got too far in my training he…"

I recognized the look in his eyes, "I'm sorry man. How far did you get though?"

He raised his hands and made glowing aura disks in his hands. I recognized them, they were mainly for extra defense, but could be used as weapons if one was skilled enough. The other girls looked at him in awe, while Nora began inching her way closer to Ren, almost protectively.

I nodded, "That's one of the first few techniques I was taught as well. What stopped you from furthering it on your own, if you don't mind me asking."

He shrugged, "After the incident, I sort of lost track of my soul so to speak. The things that usually relax and bring me peace didn't anymore, and those are necessary aspects of training.

I nodded sadly, "Well hey, I already agreed to try to teach Pyrrha the techniques I know, I'd be happy to try and help you as well."

He gave a small smile, "I'd appreciate tha—oof! Nora… what are you doing?"

Nora had latched her arms around Nora's body, squeezing him close to her, she smiled as she said, "I'm just really excited for you."

I chuckled at the display. Then Yang asked, "Wait, how come we've never heard of this? If it's as useful as it sounds, why haven't they started teaching it in school, or something."

I wasn't sure how to answer her, but luckily Ren was. "My father told me that the techniques were developed in the Great War, by a small coalition of warriors from across Remnant who wanted to bring an end to the war. They developed the art in the name of peace, but when they realized just what the possibilities were, they decided that they should keep it a secret from the world, in fear of what would happen if the wrong people mastered the power. The warriors separated, but passed the art down to their sons, in case the power would ever be needed again. I guess one of those warriors was a belladonna, an another was my ancestor."

I blinked, "Wow. Though I guess it makes sense, imagine if that Torchwick guy had Aura control, that fight would have gone a lot differently." Ruby frowned at the thought, but didn't say anything."

"Okay," Blake said, "So it's kept in the family. In that case why didn't my mother ever mention anything about it?"

I coughed uncomfortably, "Uh… apparently your grandfather still believed it should only be passed down to the male…"

Her eyes narrowed, but instead of yelling at me she just sighed, "That actually makes sense, grandpa was always really sexist. But Uncle Ryo… he died, didn't he?"

I tensed, "He did, I'm sorry."

She nodded, as if she had expected that answer, "What happened to him."

I felt my hands clench involuntarily. However, as I looked around the room at the people I had met only recently, but are already looking at me like we're close friends, I decided bottling it up for later wouldn't be a good idea.

SO, I told them what happened, about the mission with the Deathstalker, which I could tell answered a few questions for Pyrrha Yang and Blake, I told them about the sniper that I've been searching for ever since, and I told them how Ryo sacrificed himself to save me and likely many others.

When the story was finished I just stood there, awaiting their responses. In my mind, I expected reactions of anger, disgust, something like how I felt about myself. However, instead there was an explosion of rose petals before I found Ruby's arms wrapped around me as she embraced me. It caught me off guard, leaving me vulnerable as Pyrrha followed soon after, then Yang, and finally Nora who almost choked out all of us at once with her impossible hugging powers.

When they finally let go, I couldn't help but smile. That almost made up for all the shit that went down today. "Thanks, I guess I needed that."

Yang smirked then turned serious again, "So is that all the powers you have? Turning into a Grimm after you die and then back?"

I shook my head and raised my right hand, with a little concentration, the entire hand turned black, my claws emerged, and silver armor started appearing on my knuckles, "I can make adjustments like this all over my body, though if I had to guess there's still a lot more left that I haven't discovered, but I intend to find out."

Everyone looked at my hand in wonder until Yang cleared her throat, calling my attention back to her. "There's still one thing that's bugging me. You keep talking about "in theory" and "we think" with your powers. You were found as a baby inside your Beowolf form, you could have gotten that way any number of ways for all you know, right?"

I nodded wondering where she was going with this, "I could have been born a Grimm for all I know," that sent a bit of shiver through everyone but Yang ignored it.

"You had only transformed one time before due to dying as far as you know. How were you sure that it would work a second time?"

I blinked, "What?"

"Well you've thrown yourself in front of Ruby twice now, saving her, you think, from almost certain death. You must have been pretty certain you would survive, right?" Yang asked, though I could tell by her face that she already knew the answer, but judging from the strange glint in her eye, I knew if she got what she wanted nothing good would come of it. I tried looking at Ruby for help, since she's her sister and all, but the girl was too busy hiding in her own hood for some reason.

I attempted to BS it. "Uh yeah! Of course, I was sure."

Pyrrha, bless her sweet tender soul, looked at me with worried eyes, "Really? How? Have there been other incidents you haven't mentioned?"

I cursed internally, "I mean no but… it was kind of obvious?"

The room was silent for a moment until Blake said, "You had no idea if it would work, did you?"

I sighed, "No I did not."

Yang squealed in victory, "You here that Ruby? Roy here's thrown himself under the bus for you twice now, I think that warrants some type of reward, don't you?"

Ruby emitted a string of incomprehensible rambles as her face started to blend in with her hood, I decided to help her out. "Actually, she already agreed to help me and Pyrrha craft my weapon so… debt repaid."

Yang wagged a finger, "No that was for the first time. Now that you've done it twice I think you deserve a little more, right Ruby? Maybe something like…" she leaned in close and whispered something in Ruby's ear. After a moment Ruby gasped and reached behind her for Crescent Rose, only to find that it wasn't there, so she settled for pummeling Yang with her tiny fists. "Yaaang! Stop being so weird!"

Yang was laughing her ass off as her sister's weak punches did nothing more than tickle her, "Gods your easy sis. Tell you what: since you don't want to reward him, I will."

"What?" I asked, concerned.

Ruby looked worried as well, "Yang…"

The blonde waved us off, "Relax, I was just going to offer to take him shopping for some new clothes in Vale, seeing as all of his are pretty much destroyed.",

I was about to say that she didn't have to do that, when to my utmost surprise Weiss said, "I'll help."

Everyone looked at her, "WHAT?"

She held her head high, that way she was looking down at all of us, "What? I already have plans to start several homeless outreach programs when I take charge of the SDC, this could be good practice."

I deadpanned, "Lucky me,"

She then looked away, "And I suppose without you I would be without a partner right now…"

Ruby brightened up at this, reminding me just who her partner was. Poor Ruby. I decided to test the waters, "Did you just say thank you?"

Weiss shot me a glare, "No! I could have saved her myself, but I'm a businesswoman, and I believe in rewarding good work, no matter how unnecessary it was…""

I nodded, "So I'm an employee now?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Do you want my help or not?"

I sighed. I never liked handouts, but having been practically raised on them, I learned the occasional necessity of them. Right now, I had no clothes, and I doubt I would get any spending money while being cooped up in class, "You're right, thank you Weiss."

She nodded and returned to her regularly scheduled attitude of superiority. However, I was just happy she wasn't accusing me of conspiring to eat everyone anymore.

Blake spoke up then, "I don't know if this is too much to ask but… could you try to teach me Aura manipulation as well? I know I'm from a different team but— "

I didn't let her finish, already knowing my answer, "Of course. He was your uncle, I'd be happy to share such an important part of his life with you, honestly I think he would have taught you eventually anyways, if he could."

She smiled gratefully, before my view of her was obstructed by an excited Yang. "Oh! Can we come too?"

I froze, "Uhhh…"

Yang was already rolling with it, "Just imagine it: We'll be the most powerful teams in Beacons history!"

Ruby was quickly swept up in her sister's enthusiasm "Yeah! And just imagine what I'll be able to do with Crescent rose if I don't need all of those recoil reduction mods! I could put in a grenade launcher… or a flamethrower!"

I tried to get their attention, "I— "

"This actually does sound like a great opportunity." Weiss said, "I suppose I shall attend as well."

"Awesome! Should we start on the weekend then?" Yang asked me, followed by the inquisitive stares of everyone in the room.

In my head, I knew it wasn't a good idea. the techniques were kept within the family lines for a reason, but when I looked at all of their excited faces, even a hint coming from Weiss, I could only say one thing.

"Sure."

There was a resounding scream of excitement, with a few pitying looks from the more sensible members of the group.

Then Weiss looked at her scroll, and gasped in shock, "Oh gods its late! Come on! We have class tomorrow."

Ruby had a pouting look on her face, while Yang pulled out her scroll and gasped as well, "She's right guys, we should get some sleep. Come on."

With a that team RWBY left our room, after saying good night one after another. Before she left, Ruby surprised me again with another hug, as she whispered, "I'm glad you decided to come here."

I smiled and hugged her back. Then she and her team left the dorm, leaving me alone with my own team.

I turned to them, "So… Who wants first shower?"

Turns out Nora did, as she bolted from her spot on a bed and slammed the door to the bathroom behind her. the rest of us just shrugged and started arranging the beds the way we wanted them.

After we were all showered, we went to our individual beds and settled in. I was a little uncomfortable in mine, being accustomed to sleeping on the ground our other hard surfaces, the softness of it was a bit unsettling. I decided to at least try it for one night though. As I looked around to see everyone in their beds and sighed. I guessed I was going to have to turn the lights off.

As I got up to do just that. Pyrrha looked up at me with unfocused eyes, "Royal? What are you doing?"

I looked at her in confusion, "Turning the lights off?"

"Royal… The lights _are_ off."

"…Shit."

It was a long night to say the least. Between waking up constantly feeling like I was falling and having to fall asleep without the comfort of darkness due to my newly acquired night vision, I didn't get very well rested.

I ended up waking up again at around 7 and not going back to sleep, electing instead to start my morning workout routine as quietly as possible. I began with my usual 100 sit ups, 100 sit ups, and 100 squats warm up, before getting to the real stuff.

After stretching properly, I laid on my back and willed all my aura to build up in my hands. Once I had done so, I used another technique to give it weight. Usually Aura shouldn't weigh its user down at all, instead doing the opposite, but Ryo taught me this technique to get around not being able to afford workout equipment.

So far, I've only managed to make the weight reach as high as two hundred pounds, a bit heavier than my own body, in each hand. Once I had done this. I began pushing up and down like a barbell for about ten sets. Then I switched positions so I was lifting them up like a dumbbell, after lowering the weight to half what it was before, as I didn't want to get too bulky.

After a few more exercises with my upper torso, I switched the weight to my feet, before bending down and performing a handstand, lifting my weighted feet into the air above me. I then began bending my knees down like upside down squats. This doubled as both strength and coordination training.

An hour or so must have passed by while I was doing this, because suddenly I heard, "Royal? What are you doing?"

I looked over from my handstand to see Ren and Nora watching me interest, as if taking notes, while Pyrrha looked at me with confusion.

"Just my morning routine."

Pyrrha blinked, "Okay but…. Why are your feet glowing with aura?"

I explained to them how I was using my aura for weight, as I rolled onto my back, calling it quits for the day, as my body was already caked in sweat.

They took it pretty well, I guess no longer surprised at what I could do with Aura. Ren pulled out his scroll, "Class starts in an hour, we should start getting ready.

Everyone agreed and got too it. Ren and I went to the bathroom to shower and change into our uniforms while Nora and Pyrrha changed in the dorm.

The school uniform was a bit tight and itchy, but it had layers, so I wasn't going to complain. I still would have felt better with my coat on top of it, but It was still ripped and useless in my weapons locker.

Just as we were about to go to class, we heard a huge commotion coming from team RWBY's room across the hall. We considered going over to make sure they were okay, but instead decided to head to class.

Our first class was Grimm studies with Professor Port, who was aptly named as he was a… let's say very well-rounded man.

As the start of class got closer and closer, I began to worry about team RWBY, who were still not here. However, at the last minute they all came rushing in, out of breath, while Professor Port acknowledged them happily, "Team RWBY! Right on time! Please take your seats so we can begin!"

They smiled at him awkwardly and made their way to their seats next to us. I ended up next to Ruby, with Pyrrha on my right.

As Port began his lecture, I whispered to Ruby, "What happened? Did you guys oversleep?"

She smiled nervously, "Something like that...hehe."

I shrugged and attempted to pay attention to Ports lecture, but gods help me it was boring. He just went on and on about his "brave endeavors" and his "glorious youth". He definitely thought very highly of himself.

Still, I did my best to find meaning in his words, as a person with Grimm powers, I think studying Grimm anatomy might come in handy. However, the only thing I gleamed out of the lecture was that his grandfather smelled of cabbages. Why was that in the lecture?"

Eventually I gave up and turned my attention to Ruby's shenanigans, I'm guessing she was trying to help her team get through this dreadful class. She held up a drawing of the professor, labeled "Professor Poop". While her drawing skills were not artist level, it did the job to make everyone chuckle, except for Weiss.

I wasn't exactly surprised by this, but I grew concerned as Ruby continued her act and Weiss continued to glare at her. Something was definitely eating at her, though I didn't know what.

"…a true huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise. Now, who among you believe themselves to embody these traits?"

Instantly Weiss' hand shot up, causing me to slap my forehead. That question was obviously rhetorical, you go to school to gain those traits!

Port didn't falter however, "Well then… let's find out. Step forward and face your opponent." He gestured to a shaking cage to his right, with glowing eyes emanating from within.

When Weiss returned in her combat attire, her team cheered her on.

"Go Weiss!" Yang yelled.

"Fight well!" said Blake, while waving a tiny flag with RWBY printed on it. Where she got that I would never know.

"Yeah represent team RWBY!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss suddenly snapped her head at her, "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!"

Ruby apologized while I narrowed my eyes, she's definitely ticked off at Ruby for something. I couldn't imagine what though, Ruby was the sweetest girl I've ever me, it was kind of ridiculous

Port lifted his weird musket axe, "Now then, let the match begin!"

He broke the chain on the cage and unleashed the Grimm. It revealed itself to be a simple boartusk, a low-level Grimm. The beast charged out straight at Weiss, forcing her to dodge to avoid being run over.

As she faced the Grimm, Port chuckled, "Weren't expecting that, were you?" Oh yeah. He was definitely trying to teach her a lesson.

"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby kept cheering for her, despite how she's been treated up till now. The boartusk charged at her and her at hit, resulting in her getting her sword tangled in its tusks,

"A bold new approach, I like it!" Port exclaimed, obviously messing with her, though no one else acknowledged it.

"Come on Weiss show it whose boss!" Ruby seemed to have complete faith in her teammate, despite the fact that she had made such a fundamental error, never charge at a boartusk. Her sword was then ripped from her grip and thrown across the room.

"Oho! What will you do without your weapon I wonder?" Port commented.

In response, Weiss dodged the charging Grimm yet again and rushed over to retriever her sword. Nothing, she'll do nothing without her weapon,

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath— "

Weiss cut ruby off, by screaming, "Stop telling me what to do!"

As her opponent suddenly turned into a ball and rolled forward at frightening speeds I couldn't help but call out, "She's your leader! That's her job!"

This didn't help her mood. "Quiet you dunce!"

As she summoned a glyph to stop the charge, I called back, "Okay now you're just being unreasonably aggressive!"

She jumped up and launched herself off of another glyph, driving her sword brutally into the Grimm's stomach as it was stuck on its back. It died with a squeal.

As it faded away, Port clapped, "Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in _training_." Damn this guy was brutal! However, Weiss didn't seem to notice the jab. As Port dismissed the class, Weiss went off in a huff as she so loves to do, and Ruby hurried after her, worry evident on her face.

I growled a bit under my breath. How could anyone be so mean to Ruby? I've crushed Grimm skulls with my bare hands, but every time I look into her big silver eyes my heart crumbles. I turned to my team, "I'm going to go check to see if she's okay."

"Okay." Pyrrha responded while Nora and Ren gave a thumb up.

I managed to catch up just in time to hear the end of their conversation, "Weiss where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about "working together"? I thought you believed in working as a team..."

"Not a team led by _you_. I've studied and trained, and quite frankly I deserve better. Ozpin made a mistake."

I watched from around the corner as Weiss walked away and Ruby hung her head in despair. I was torn between the need to go and comfort her, and the need to go and give Weiss a piece of my mind. Luckily when I turned around to calm my breathing, I found Ozpin standing there. Now I would never pretend to understand that guy, but as our eyes met, we came to a mutual agreement.

"You take Ruby and I take Weiss?" I asked. he simply smirked and patted me on the shoulder as he passed by. As he began to talk to Ruby I went in search of Weiss.

I found her putting her gear away in the locker room, already back in her uniform. When she saw me, she scoffed and rolled her eyes, but that expression was changed with shock when I charged up and kicked the door to her locker shut in front of her, causing her to yelp in surprise and back up, "What is wrong with you!?"

I stared at he in disbelief, "What's wrong with me? you're the one who—who GRAAAAAH!" I screamed and punched her locker in anger, literally unable to speak. After a moment and a few deep breaths, I said, "You do realize that Ruby wanted nothing more than to help you right? There are very few people in this world who ever act without ulterior motive, and she is one of them! You should be thankful she's your leader!"

Weiss scoffed again, "Really? She's nothing more than a child swinging her weapon wildly, she nearly got you killed!"

I felt my eye twitch. "A: she didn't do anything, she made a mistake, and I _chose_ to save her. B: There was no "nearly" about what happened. I died. Do you have any idea what it feels like, to have a deathstalker stinger shoved into your chest, destroying your ribcage and ripping your vital organs to absolute shreds?"

As I spoke I walked towards her and she stepped back. This continued until her back was against a wall and I was inches from her face, close enough to see the tears welling up in her eyes as I said, "It fucking _hurt_ Weiss. It was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced in my life, almost as a bad as when my dad went off that cliff. but you know what? I'd do it again. I'd do it again if it meant saving her, because people like her are the reason hunters and huntresses do what they do! They don't protect the world for the rotten, the cruel or the corrupt. They do it for the pure, the innocent and the righteous, everything that Ruby is. I can tell you that I'm none of those things, which is why your team is already better than mine. Why don't you obsess over that instead of how much better you are than your own teammates, because the results of that study will not be satisfactory for you I promise you now. Ozpin didn't make a mistake. The mistake would have been setting you: a spoiled brat who focuses more on her personal grudges than the enemy in front of them, as the team leader."

Weiss was in a stunned silence as I backed up from her and walked away without another word.

As I walked back to meet up with my Team, I had a lot of time to cool down and clear my head. so, when I finally found them and Pyrrha asked me how it went, I answered:

"I think I may have gone a teensy bit overboard."

Later that day, as everyone was getting ready for bed, I decided I should apologize for what happened. Don't get me wrong I meant every word, but I didn't think screaming in her face was really necessary.

However just as I was about to knock on the door, it opened, revealing Weiss looking back into the room saying, "Ruby… I always wanted Bunk beds as a kid."

She then closed the door and turned to see me, causing her to yelp. I quickly stepped back. "Sorry! Sorry I was just about to knock. I just came over to apologize for how I acted earlier, I let my emotions get the better than me, I'm sorry." I then waited for her to tell me how sorry I should be, or scoff and shut the door in my face, instead she looked away.

"I was actually coming over to… thank you."

I blinked, "Come again?"

She shot me a look, "Don't make me say it again! I mean… you were right about a lot of things, I didn't realize it at first but after I spoke to Professor Port I realized just how right you were. I am a bit... spoiled. No one's ever really talked to me the way you have, not even my sister, and I think it's something I've needed for a long time. So, thank you."

I was not expecting that at all, "You're welcome?"

She narrowed her eyes, "That being said, don't make a habit out of it. The things you said about me won't be true for long got it?"

I nodded, "Got it."

Then inside her room we heard, "Is that Royal? Tell him to wait I have to talk to him!" followed by a lot of shuffling and loud noises.

Weiss sighed and turned back to me, "Well… Good night Royal, I look forward to our shopping trip in vale, it'll be refreshing to see you in proper clothing."

I looked at her in surprise, "You're still going to do that?""

She huffed, "of course, a Schnee never goes back on her word, now good night!" Just before she went into her room, I could have sworn I saw a smile on her face, but I couldn't be sure. Then the door opened to reveal Ruby in her pajama's bouncing excitedly and otherwise looking adorable, "Roy! I almost forgot your weapon!"

I chuckled nervously, "That's okay, I would have reminded you if it was urgent, but right now we should get some rest don't you think."

She nodded, "Sure sure! But at least tell me what you have in mind!" She leaned in close and whispered, "I get my best ideas in my dreams."

I chuckled, "Okay well I was thinking…"

As I told her my idea her face went through many expressions: excitement, confusion, more excitement, until finally it rested on serious. After a moment she said, "That's not going to be easy to do…"

I felt my heart sink but shrugged it off, "That's fine, if it's too complicated I'll be just as happy with something— "

Suddenly I was pulled down by the collar of my shirt so that I was eye level with Ruby, who now had a dangerous glint in her eye, "It is one of the most awesome weapon ideas I've ever heard! Almost as cool as Crescent Rose! You will not take the joy of making it real away from me, understand?"

In nodded eagerly, "Yes sir—ma'am—I mean Ruby!"

She let me go and smiled widely, "This is going to be so AWESOME! I can't wait to start working on it tomorrow! Good night Royal!" and with that she gave me a quick bone crushing hug and went back into her room, leaving me a bit concerned, but mostly excited for what was to come.

 **Chapter 6!**

 **Next time on Grimm Royalty: Weapon design reveal, shopping trip to Vale, possibly beginning of my version of the Bully arc, and finally… Jaune?**


	7. Chapter 7

Royal POV

The next few weeks were pretty eventful, the first week went on pretty much without incident. The classes were pretty simple. The only one anyone was really excited about was combat class, which was basically random matches between students, after which Goodwitch gave tips and critiques. Almost everyone in the class has had a chance to participate, including member from both my team and team Ruby. Of course, they've always won, unless they were facing one another. The only student who hadn't gotten a chance to fight yet was me. go figure.

Every time I approached Goodwitch about it she would come up with some lame ass excuse like: it's a randomized system. or: I can't in good conscience let you fight without a weapon. Bitch you let me do Initiation without a weapon and you've seen what I can do. I was certain at this point that she had something against me, I just didn't know what. I've been surprisingly nice to her lately.

I didn't let that get me down however, as I had more exciting things on my mind. For about an hour every night, Ruby, Pyrrha and I worked on my weapons. When Pyrrha found out my design idea, she had a normal reaction and said it was ridiculous and impractical, in much nicer words of course. However, Ruby stuck to it, despite my numerous offers to come up with something else, and Pyrrha just went along. She ended up being very helpful too.

The first exciting event that happened however was the weekend of the first week of the school, beginning with Saturday. That was the day we went shopping in Vale.

It started out with me waiting impatiently by the bullhead launch pad. It was around 11 in the morning, and we were supposed to meet at 10:30.

Finally, I saw Weiss and Yang approaching from the dorms. I did my best to check my attitude, as neither of them would take it well, so I simply said, "You're here."

"Sorry!" Yang apologized, "We took longer than usual getting ready." She said that with a bit of edge in her voice. "Someone used up all the hot water."

Weiss scoffed, "I don't understand why you just can't use cold water to wash your hair."

Yang looked at her, genuinely offended, "Are you crazy? Not everyone is as resistant to the cold as you ice queen!"

They began bickering back and forth, over things that were probably important and sensible to them, but to me it just seemed like nonsense. in the end, I yelled over both of them, "It's okay! I wasn't waiting that long!"

They looked at me in surprise, "Really?" Weiss asked.

"No." I said simply, causing them to slump, "I was here on time. But that's' fine, I just want to get going, have a good day, and get out of these awful clothes."

I was currently wearing another one of Ren's obscenely soft robes under the school uniform jacket, and I was still shivering.

Yang nodded, "Yeah your old look suited you way better. How's your coat by the way? Have you fixed it yet?"

I sighed, "I found someone in Vale who can do it, but they're way out of my price range. Turns out the leather is super rare and fixing it is more complicated than you'd think. It'll be a while before I'm able to get it fixed."

Weiss was silent while Yang looked at me sadly, "That sucks. That was an awesome coat."

I nodded, "Yep. I'll get it fixed eventually though, it'll just take some time. Thanks again for helping me out today, Ren's clothes don't really suit me."

Weiss nodded, "I agree. You looked much better dressed as a ruffian."

I raised an eyebrow, "Thank you?"

She shrugged as the Bullhead finally arrived. We got on and enjoyed the ride down to Vale.

I hadn't seen much of Vale, besides its underground of course, that was my best bet of finding the sniper and I didn't want to make my face known, due to my new way of acquiring food. Walking its streets in broad daylight was a nice change of pace.

I turned to the girls, "So where too? Thrift shop?" That was where Ryo and I usually got our clothes.

Weiss scoffed, "I'm the Heiress of the SDC, do you really think I would be seen in a thrift shop?"

Yang and I looked at each other, then at her, "Maybe"?"

"No! we're going to a real clothing store, and then to a huntsman tailor."

I blinked, "What's that?"

Before Weiss could verbally berate me, Yang stepped in and said, "It's where you go to get your combat clothes. The material they use is a lot stronger than regular clothes so they shouldn't rip as easily."

I nodded in thanks, "I see… How do they make the materials so tough?"

Weiss spoke proudly, "They infuse it with Dust. Infusing clothes with certain types of dust strengthens them and gives them certain types of attributes. Personally, I prefer to infuse my uniform with water Dust, for fluid motion and ice creation if I ever need it."

Yang spoke up, "I use Earth Dust, which focuses completely on strengthening my clothes, as well as stopping damage to certain areas.'

I looked at her curiously, "But doesn't your semblance rely on taking damage?"

She nodded and gestured to the rather revealing parts of her outfit, "that's why I leave so much uncovered."

I nodded and was starting to get excited, "Can we go there first?"

They shook their heads, "We need to get you the clothing first. Then we go to get it infused.

Weiss spoke up, "I believe I know a store nearby that uses strictly SDC dust, so its sure to be high quality."

As we walked through Vale, they took turns pointing things out that they found interesting. I simply nodded and smiled like it was interesting. It occasionally was, but then there were times when Yang pointed to her favorite nail salon, or Weiss her companies outreach stores.

The clothing store we went to was pretty generic. They waited outside the changing room while I tried on the clothes. They kept insisting that I find something other than a black shirt and pants, so I indulged them, knowing I would just get the shirt and jeans later.

They had me try on different outfits in an impromptu fashion show. One outfit was a very formal black suit with a purple shirt and silver tie, with my silver hair draped down the back. I got two thumbs up from Weiss and a thumb down from Yang. Weiss looked at her angrily, "What? He looks das—fine in that!"

Yang made a barf noise, "He looks like he's going to the prom! I'll grant that he can pull it off, but can you imagine fighting in that thing?"

I tried stretching and found she was right, it was pretty restricting. "Yeah I'm going to have to agree with Yang. It's definitely not for combat."

Weiss huffed and looked away, "You should get it anyway. Life isn't just about fighting you know."

Out of curiosity I took the jacket off and checked the tag, as soon as I saw the tag I paled, "Yeah no. this is ridiculously expensive."

Weiss put her hands on her hips, "So what? I already agreed to buy it for you."

I winced, "You did, and I appreciate it, both of you, but I do intend to pay it back eventually."

Weiss and Yang looked at me in surprise, "You don't have to worry about that. We offered to do this," Yang said as Weiss nodded in agreement."

I smiled, "I know, and I know that you offered out of the kindness of your heart, unlike most people who want something in return, but I was raised as a beggar. I had to lower my head and plead for almost every meal I got, it taught me a lot about humility, but it also makes me want to saw my own leg off before I take another handout." Though as I said this I was mentally berating myself for daring to take the high ground, considering I had taken to stealing my food as soon as Ryo wasn't around.

The girls didn't seem to understand my reasoning, and really, how could they? But they let it go and we continued with the show after I put away the suit. It was a shame though, I really did like its look.

We went through a few more outfits, why they thought a hoodie would be a good idea is beyond me. I can barely fit shirts over my head with it there and they expect me to stuff it into a hood? Then there was one of Yang's choices…

It consisted of nothing more than a sleeveless purple shirt and a pair of shorts. I shivered at the lack of covering as I exited the changing room. "No offense but did you really thing I would go for something like this? Yang?" She had he r scroll pointed at me and a weird look on her face, meanwhile Weiss sat next to her rolling her eyes, "What are you doing?"

She looked up "What? Oh, don't worry about it. Why don't you do a little pose for me?"

"Okay well—" I turned and walked back into the changing room, ignoring her whines and protests.

Finally, I emerged dressed in a plain, black, long sleeved shirt and pants. I did a little spin for the girls as they looked at me with blank looks, "Eh? I think we have a winner."

"You were going to pick that from the beginning weren't you…" Weiss said.

I feigned shock and lied blatantly, "What? No! I had every intention of considering each and every one of the outfits you chose. I just found this to be the best."

"Sure Roy, we'll believe you." Yang drawled, obviously not believing me.

I clapped my hands and rubbed them excitedly, "Now, let's buy a few of these and go to the fun part!"

So, Weiss purchased a couple pairs of jeans and shirts for me, which I was very thankful for, and we made our way towards the dust infusion store. it was a street side shop called "Estaban's Dust Infusions"

"What kind of name is Estaban?" I asked to no one in particular.

Weiss scoffed, "What kind of name is Royal?"

I chuckled "Aside from the one my dad gave me? a damn good one." that shut her up for a while.

We went in to see various displays of dust infused clothing fitted onto sturdy looking dummies, I assume to test the effectiveness.

Near the back a short, wiry haired emerged, "Ms. Schnee! what a lovely surprise! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Weiss shook hands with the man, "Hi Anton. I'm actually here for a friend, could you help us out."

"Of course!" The man smiled, before he looked over me, "Oh… my you really do need my help. Is that what he intends to wear into battle?"

As he and Weiss bantered back and forth about my poor taste in fashion, I leaned over to Yang and whispered, "Why did she call him Anton? I thought he was Estaban."

She leaned in as well, "It's a franchise."

"Ah"

"Honestly my boy is that really all you intend to wear? All black with no contrast?"

I rubbed the back of my head embarrassedly, "Yeah, I used to have a little more to the outfit, but it was messed up a while and I don't have the money to fix it, and these two have done way too much already for me to let them."

Both girls rolled their eyes at this but Anton just nodded understandingly, "I see. If it's alright, might I inquire as to what it was?"

"Oh! Hold on!" Yang said before fishing out her Scroll. She flipped to her pictures and showed an image of me in my old outfit.

"When did you take that?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

She didn't mind me, and handed it to Anton, who looked at the image closely."

"My gods… where on Remnant did you acquire that coat?"

I blinked, "Uh, it was my dad's. I never asked where he got it, why?"

He looked at me in shock, "This is Menagerian grogbeast leather!"

We all looked at him blankly, "A what?"

He sighed, "A grogbeast! It is—was a unique species native to only Menagerie. Their hide is thick enough to stop a few shots from a sniper rifle. They were hunted to extinction during the Great war for their leather, as it was very effective in combat garb. Nowadays it's so rare that I never imagined I would lay eyes on some. You say you ripped it? How?"

I shrugged, not sure what to say, "I kind of… grew out of it."

He stared at me in disbelief, "That's quite the growth spurt young man. Tell you what: bring me this coat and allow me to work with it, see if the rumors are true… and I'll give you the result for free and do the rest of your clothes for 25% off. Deal?"

I wanted to say yes, but I hesitated, "I can't have it more messed up than it already is, it has a lot of… sentimental value."

Anton put his hand over his chest, "I couldn't stomach the thought of damaging such a fine piece of clothing. I will stay well within the limits of safety, I give you my word."

I smiled and shook his hand, "All right then. Now how does this work? I have a couple pairs of shirts and pants I want infused. I was thinking wind for agility..."

He nodded, "Of course, just hand them to me and I'll do the rest in the back.

He took the clothes and left us in a waiting area. It took about half an hour before he came back with the clothes. I didn't see any physical difference, but when he handed them to me, I almost tossed them in the air, as the slight wait I was expecting was not there. "Whoa, that's pretty cool."

Anton smiled proudly, "But of course. Feel free to send the coat to me in person or in the mail when you get back to Beacon, whichever you prefer is fine. I hope you all have a good day!"

As we headed down the streets of Vale, I was having a fun time messing with my new clothes. I ran ahead a few times at full speed and found myself much faster than before. Anton said that the effects of the infusion included weight reduction, a speed boost, and slower air descent. Which I was definitely going to test later. I definitely didn't understand how it worked, but I definitely didn't care.

Weiss sighed as I burst forward again, "Will you stop that? You're acting like a child?"

I laughed, "I doubt children get to have this much fun. Watch this!"

I ran towards a building to my right and jumped with my regular strength, reaching the lip of a window sill and proceeded to scale the side of the wall, fully utilizing the weight reduction.

When I reached the top, I stood on the edge of the four-story building and looked down at the girls. Upon realizing what I was thinking, Weiss started shaking her head, "Oh no! don't even think about it Royal! You can't possibly be that stupid. All the while Yang JUST SMIRKED AS SHE LOKED UP AT ME,

In response, I shouted joyfully and leaped off the roof. Sure, enough I felt a significant decrease in speed as I made my way down, though not enough that Weiss stopped screaming.

After a moment, I landed on the ground with a roll, completely silent, and popped up right in front of the girls. Weiss looked paler than usual, while yang just chuckled.

When wises remained frozen, so to speak, I put a hand on her shoulder, "Sorry Weiss, but I've been trained to survive falls higher than that, it's fine.

She shook herself out of it, "Fine? A fall like that can shatter a normal person's aura and kill them! And you say it's fine?"

"Whoa!" Yang exclaimed getting between her and I, "I think we all just need to relax for a bit. Luckily, I know just the place. Come on!"

She led us down the street and turned into a building. One that I recognized.

"Yang..." I said warily," Why are we going to— "

Before I could finish she burst through the doors, revealing a seedy looking Night club. She called out, "Guess who's back!"

As she stood in the doorway as if expecting an applause, everyone in the club had eyes on her, and a few firearms as well.

I spied Junior say something to someone under the bar before walking out, glaring at Yang. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here blondie. Do you have any idea the cost of the damages you caused last time?"

Yang waved it away, "Oh Junior don't be like that! We both know you were gonna renovate later anyways. Now how about a couple drinks huh?"

Junior readied his bat, "I don't think so. I think it's time you settled your tab from last time."

I decided that it was time for me to step in. I pushed past Yang, ignoring her indignant huff and held my hands out for Junior to see, "Hold it! I don't know what happened between you two but I'm sure we can settle this without fighting. Like with us leaving for example."

Junior relaxed slightly upon seeing me. "Royal? What are you doing with that crazy bitch?"

I could actually feel heat radiating from yang as she heard that comment, but luckily, she was smart enough to not move while having several dozen guns pointed at her. "Let's not be rude dude, Crazy is more than enough."

Junior shrugged, "You weren't there Roy. She grabbed my… the point is that she needs to pay!"

I sighed and turned to Yang, "Why would you bring us here?"

She shrugged, "The strawberry sunrise here is phenomenal."

I turned back to Junior. "I know you don't change your mind easily Junior, but she's my friend, somehow— "

"Hey!"

"—so, I'll pay for her."

That shut everyone up. Yang tried to pull me towards her but I held firm as Junior looked at me with interest. "Oh? And how will you do that?"

I rolled my eyes, "One job."

He looked back defiantly, "Five jobs!"

"Three jobs."

"Deal! Though one job would have been enough to be honest. Blondie's forgiven."

I nodded to him gratefully as I felt the stares of the girls behind me, "What just happened?" Yang asked.

Junior looked at her in amusement as all his men lowered their weapons. "We're clear blondie. Though don't think you can get off scot free like this every time. Have a drink if you want, just don't wreck the place again."

The girl was once again speechless as I walked up to Junior. He led me towards the back while Yang and wises walked towards the bar, yang in a confused daze and Weiss very uncomfortable and staring at me with suspicion. This day is taking a bad turn.

I sighed internally Junior as he gave me the job details. He was writing it down though so I was barely listening. That's when I looked over by the bar and a flash of blonde hair not attached to Yang caught my eye.

Junior followed my gaze towards the guy I sent home from beacon, wearing the bar uniform and laughing with a few of the goons. "I see you noticed the new blood. That there is Jaune Arc, real nice guy. My cousins brought him in a few days ago and demanded I give him a job. Turns out he's a natural bar tender. He's a bit of a wimp when it comes to combat, but the girls will train that out of him soon enough. Just between us, I think he has a lot of potential."

I looked at Junior in disbelief, "Him? Not to say your judgement is wrong Junior but I've met this guy, he was trying to get into _Beacon_ with no concept of what Aura was! Does he even know he's working for criminals?"

Junior laughed, "It took an unbelievable amount of time to explain it to him but he knows. And we've unlocked his aura and let me tell you: the kid is unbelievable. He's got aura for days! Literally! I can't imagine what his semblance will turn out to be…"

I shook my head, "He sure doesn't look like a criminal…"

Junior chuckled, "Neither does Roman. Speaking of which, I heard you gave him a good ass kicking! Makes me glad I sent you his way, that guy's a prick, and he's in to some really sketchy stuff, that's coming from me! Anyways, I don't expect these to be done by next week what with school and all, but the end of next month alright?"

I nodded and shook his head, "As always it's awful doing business with you Junior."

He smirked, "Likewise Roy. Now I have some business to attend to, make sure Blondie doesn't destroy the place while I'm gone, will you?"

With that, Junior went off and I reluctantly walked back to Yang and Weiss, who were standing by the entrance, watching me closely. As soon as I was close enough, Weiss shot forward and practically screamed, "Explain! Now!"

I winced at her volume, "Do you always have to scream?"

Yang walked forward as well, "You just talked to Junior like you were old friends or something, and what is this about a job? Please don't tell me you used to work for him, he's the sketchiest guy in Vale."

I laughed at that, but based on Yang's expression I realized she wasn't making a joke. "Actually he's more like Vales biggest crime boss, and unfortunately I didn't in fact use to work for him."

That unloaded a barrage of questions that contributed to my already growing migraine. "Alright!" I interrupted them, "I'm going to explain just… over a drink."

"Oh, so you're a drunk now too?" Weiss asked.

"Make that two drinks."

Third Person POV 

Yang and Weiss walked through the dorm halls in a bit of a daze, their minds stuck on what Royal had told them. Although, a little bit of it for Yang came from the three drinks she had.

They had followed Royal back to the bar and waited while he ordered a beer. The bartender looked a bit familiar to Yang, and he seemed to recognize Royal but before he could say anything Royal just started ordering.

After he had taken a few sips of his drink, he began to explain. "It was after I lost Ryo and had, er, discovered the other abilities of my "semblance". I was finally no longer starving, but I didn't want to make a living stealing from people, but I didn't exactly have wide skill set. That's when I heard about Junior."

"So, you got a job working for a crime lord?" Yang asked.

Royal shrugged, ""Lord" a bit excessive he's a crime "boss", and he had a problem. Other people were trying to move in on his territory, and he needed someone to take care of them.

Weiss gasped, "You killed them?"

"No! I just knocked them around a little, enough to send a message. Most gang members don't have aura, and the ones that do are rarely well trained. I'd wear a mask, knock them around, and make it clear that they weren't welcome. That's all I ever did. Junior and his associates are all under close watch by the police, so he paid me good money to take care of his competition. There aren't a lot of people as skilled as me willing to take care of stuff like that, most are either hunters or way more expensive than I was. So I took care of his business and he kept me fed and gave me a warm bed. Once I had accumulated a good amount of lien I left, and resumed my search for the sniper. I hadn't planned on doing any more jobs, but now I have no choice."

Yang had to suppress a blush at that, but Weiss wasn't satisfied. "That still doesn't make it better! You still worked for the for a criminal!"

Royal shrugged as he took another sip, "As criminals go Junior is the lesser of a thousand evils. For one thing, he doesn't allow human trafficking— "

"Human what now?" Yang asked, while Weiss looked curious as well.

Royal sighed, "Right. It's widely believed that it ended after the Great War, but Human trafficking is still very much a thing in Remnant, mostly operating underground. It's basically slavery."

That spewed an entirely different conversation, as Yang and Weiss had a difficult time believing that slavery was still around, and Royal had the unfortunate job of explaining to them just how it was. He didn't get into all the gritty details of what exactly happened to most slaves, specifically females, but he suspected they got the idea. by the end of the night everyone was exhausted, both physically and mentally. There was only one thing left to be said.

Royal, now fingering his empty glass asked the two girls who had been silent for the longest time, "Will you keep this a secret?"

Weiss scoffed, "From who? The police?"

Royal chuckled dryly, "No, they would never convict me, I was careful not to leave any evidence. I'm talking about Ruby, Blake, my team… I realize this is going to have to come out at some point, but I rather it be from me."

Weiss was silent as she looked at him, while Yang sighed, "I will Roy. I will. I don't think I'm ready for Ruby to find out about all of… that… either."

That left the ice queen. The two looked at her for a few moments, before she sighed and answered, "Fine. But you _will_ tell them one day."

I smirked, "Fair enough."

That brings us to now. Royal apparently still had something to do, so Yang and Weiss went home without him. They ended up getting back pretty late. They stopped by RPRN's room to let them know that Royal would be home soon, before retiring to their own room. They walked in their dorm to find Blake sleeping soundly and Ruby tapping away furiously on her Scroll.

Yang looked at her sister with concern, "Ruby? What are you doing still awake?"

Ruby looked at them with a start, "Oh! I was just doing… calculations! That's what they're called…"

Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner, "You should sleep Ruby, you can barely function."

Ruby groaned, "But I'm so _close_! If I can just figure out this last calculation, Royal's weapon can be finished by the end of the week!"

Yang sighed, used to her sister's obsession over weapons at this point, while Weiss was even more concerned. "You know Ruby, you shouldn't work so hard on something you're just doing as a favor. I don't want you to get used without realizing it."

Ruby looked at her in confusion, "I'm not getting used. If anything, I wish I could work harder. Royal's done all the legwork, and armwork, and pretty much anything else he can understand. Plus, I've learned an amazing knew forging technique from Pyrrha! She showed me this amazing new way of folding the metal on itself to make it like a bazillion times stronger! I'm planning on recreating Crescent Rose's blade with it, I bet I'll be able to cleave that Nevermore's head off with one swing next time!"

Weiss felt a little better at that, "Well… as long as he's not taking advantage of you. But you should go to bed now, we shouldn't have even stayed up this late."

Ruby made a pouting face, but relented and put her scroll away. "I guess it will make tomorrow come sooner. I can't wait to learn how to manipulate Aura! Maybe I can turn them into wings and fly!"

Yang giggled as she settled in her bunk, "Ruby you can practically fly already with your semblance."

"Yeah but it would be cooler with wings. Aren't you excited Weiss?"

Weiss simply hummed from her bunk, too lost in thought to pay attention, until Ruby's head swung down from her bunk to look at Weiss, "You know you shouldn't worry about Royal taking advantage of me or something like that. He's like the coolest, most genuine guy I've ever met!"

Yang smiled more like a cat than the girl in the bunk beneath her, "Yeah and he's handsome too right Ruby?"

Ruby realized too late what was happening, and nodded eagerly, "Yeah and—" she froze, causing Yang to burst out laughing. Blake stirred a bit at the noise whispering, "Tuna…"

Ruby buried her head in her pillow, groaning "Leave me alone! I'm tired!"

Weiss chuckled a bit at the sisters' antics, before returning to her thoughts. It was her nature to be skeptical of anything and everything, but she wished she didn't feel that way about Royal. \

 **The next day**

"Alright! Class is in session!"

Everyone in the team RPRN dorm looked at me in confusion. The main reason being…

Ruby raised a hand, despite the fact that it wasn't a real classroom, "Royal, why are you wearing sunglasses?"

I was sitting on a chair in front of everyone, who were sitting two to a bed, wearing my new outfit, with the addition of a dark pair of sunglasses, despite it being early in the morning, and indoors. I was currently fighting a major headache.

"Well Ruby" I responded, "It's definitely not because I'm hungover."

"No one said anything about being hungover." Blake stated.

I pointed a finger at everyone accusingly, "You were thinking it, I can tell. Now enough about my hangover. You all want to learn Aura control, right?"

Everyone nodded tentatively, while Pyrrha looked at me with concern, "Are you sure you are in any condition for it? If you need to rest we understand…"

I smiled, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Because I'm not hungover. And if you insinuate again that I am I'll have half a mind to give you detention Ms. Nikos."

Pyrrha was taken aback by this, "I didn't—I'm sorry I— "

She stopped stammering as I burst out laughing, followed by Yang, Ruby, and Nora. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was only messing with you Pyrrha don't worry!"

The kind-hearted Spartan crossed her arms at the prank but couldn't control the smirk creeping on her face.

"Alright. For real now." I took off my sunglasses and used all my willpower to not wince at the light, turns out hangover sensitivity plus night vision powers do not mix well. "Today we have only one lesson: the first lesson I was taught. First off what does everybody know about Aura?"

Nora raised her hand excitedly, "It's the manifestation of our souls! Unlocking them makes you stronger and more resilient so you can kick butt!"

Ren continued for her, "And if you know how, you can manipulate it to suit various needs, like so." He demonstrated his Aura disks for everyone to see. "But to manipulate aura effectively you must be in touch with yourself. If you are not in touch with yourself you cannot advance in your aura skills."

I nodded to him, "Exactly."

"No offense but this is starting to sound dangerously like hippie crap." Yang said.

I smiled at her, "How could anyone take offense to that Yang? But I understand the confusion. When I say, "be in touch with yourself" I mean it more literally than you'd think. You must be able to reach into you center and "feel" your own soul. Each one has their own shape, a shape that changes as you grow as a person. Because it's always changing you must regularly check back on it. Is everyone following?"

There was a general response of "sort of" which I expected. I didn't really get it until I experienced it for myself. "That's fine. It'll make sense in time. For now, what you need to work on, is feeling your soul. You'll know it when it happens, because this will happen." I reached inward and gripped my core tight, which caused my body to glow purple with my Aura. "Your aura usually appears on your skin automatically when you take damage when you touch your soul, this is what happens."

I waited for the inevitable question, and it came from Blake, "How do we do that?"

"I'm so glad you asked Blake. The most natural way to touch your soul, is to do it when you are completely honest with who you are, what makes you happy, and what your goals are. So yes, Yang there is some Hippie crap involved." She didn't laugh.

Ruby frowned, "But I already know that stuff. I'm Ruby Rose. Weapons make me happy, my goal is to become a great Huntress and save people."

I smiled genuinely, and felt a little bad about what I had to tell her next, "You have to be more honest than that. Brutally honest."

Weiss finally spoke up, "Uh, how do you know that's not her being completely honest?"

I looked at her, "Because she's a person, and people have more layers than that. They're like cakes."

"Okay," Yang spoke up, obviously annoyed at how I spoke to Ruby, who was now looking down a bit deflated, something that almost made my heart burst. "If you are so well in touch with yourself. What are your wants and goals, who are you? do you really have a better answer than hers?"

I just kept smiling. I completely understood why they were reacting like this, no one likes to be told they're bullshit. "I don't know about "better" but I definitely have a true answer. I'm Royal. I'm a survivor. My goal is to find the sniper who shot my father. I want many things, but above all, I want to hurt the man or woman behind the scope. I want to hurt them terribly. Even knowing the pain of being stabbed through the chest and dying, I want to inflict worse pain on them. I know that is wrong, and I likely won't do that in the end, but it's what I want."

As expected, that caused a silence to fall on the room. As I scanned the room, I found many of them having trouble meeting my eyes, except, to my surprise, for Ruby, who was looking at me with confidence, "Okay so where do we start."

I stood up, startling the nervous few, ""We" don't. this is something you need to do on your own. I will say however, that a good way to speed up the process is meditation. Not the boring kind where you just sit there, unless that works for you, but just doing whatever it is that keeps you calm, your happy place. For me, it's training, for you it can be completely different. Today you should work on finding out what that is. Don't worry if you don't figure it out today though, it literally took me a month."

It took everyone a moment to realize what was happening, "That's it?" Weiss asked."

"I don't mean to be ungrateful, but I remember from my training that all of this was not necessary to learn new techniques. I never "touched my soul" before learning to form my disks."

I nodded, "Well I'm assuming you were a child when you learned those. It's a lot harder for young children to be honest with who they are. They often are unable to figure it out. The truth is anyone can learn technique like that, in fact I learned quite a few techniques from my father like that, but ideally: you should be in such control of your aura that you can freely develop your own techniques. For example:"

I held up my hand and willed my aura to form in my palm, forming a small statue of Weiss, mirroring her current look of skepticism. "Ta da!"

It earned a round of laughter form everyone but one. guess who. I was happy I could lighten the mood just a bit.

"Tell you what: as soon as you guys find your meditations, I'll start teaching you some useful techniques to start out with. Deal?"

"There was a resounding "Deal!" and that concluded my first class teaching Aura manipulation.

 **The next week**

I sat miserably in my seat as I listened to Goodwitch lecture about combat tactics I already knew, until she finally stopped and moved to announce the first fight.

The "Random matcher" went off to reveal Cardin Winchester in the first slot, earning an excited grunt form him. I've done my best to stay away from that guy as much as possible, mostly for his own health, as everything I've seen from him so far has been less than impressive.

All of those thoughts evaporated however as the second slot landed on my face. I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, before looking at Goodwitch in disbelief. She simply shrugged and said, "Looks like it's your lucky day Mr. Belladonna."

I deadpanned at her. it had nothing to do with the fact that I finally had my weapons, today right? But I didn't say anything, there was no way I was going to screw up after 'd been waiting for this for two weeks.

I looked over at Ruby and Pyrrha who looked as excited as I was. I gave them a thumb up and started jogging down towards the locker room.

After I had geared up I walked out to see Cardin ready before me, somehow, and waiting in the ring. He was grinning at me, which was disconcerting. "I've been waiting to get a shot at you.

I blinked. "Really? Why?"

Before he could answer, Goodwitch snapped her riding crop, "This is a fight gentleman not a date."

I rolled my eyes and got into a fighting stance, we waited until the starting buzzer rang before moving forward. Cardin came charging forward with his mace raised over his head, while I walked calmly forward.

With an unnecessary yell, he slammed down the mace, right where I used to be. He looked up to where I had dodged his attack, with relative ease, and swung again, only for me to dodge once more. This continued on for a few moments before finally, he lost it. "ARGH! Stop running and fight you coward!"

I smirked, "With pleasure." And I reached for my weapons,

Strapped to my lower back, was a pair of ninjato swords, 22 inches long each. They rested in black sheaths in a wide x shape on my back, so each handle was sticking out on each side, allowing me easy access. The handles were pretty simple except that on the end of each handle there was a circular pommel. On each pommel, there was a symbol of a silver crown with claws acting as the points on top. I unsheathed them to reveal the blades, which were simple at a glance: purple, razor sharp, and rectangular to the end. I brought them out in reverse grip before flipping them up to regular grips.

Upon seeing my admittedly small swords Cardin laughed loudly, "Really? What are you going to do with those little toothpicks?"

I looked at them in my hands, "I can think of a few things, but if this mode doesn't suit you…"

I clicked a button on each hilt, causing the blade to begin to fall apart, only not really. The blades separated into one inch segments, each connected by 2 feet of thin black cable, adding up to 44 feet of deadly bladed-whips in each hand. I stared Cardin in his now widened eyes and gave them a little flick, causing the ripple to flow down through the entire cable, and slamming them down on the floor, which caused pretty severe damage to the floor. I might have done that on purpose, though I would not admit it while GoodBitch was glaring at me.

I smirked at Cardin excited for what was to come next, "Let's see how you do with this."

 **Chapter 7!**

 **I changed this chapter because in hindsight, 66 feet was a bit excessive. So now its 44**

 **I really hope I explained my vision of the blades well. There's still a lot more to them than what I've revealed here, but tell me what you think in the reviews please. The full fight will be In the next chapter.**

 **The gap between chapters was partly from a slight burnout after that rapid fire chapter writing session, and partly from all the finals and papers I was taking care of. If all goes well I should be graduating by the end of May! I just have to get past this last algebra final… I may be screwed.**


	8. Chapter 8

Royal POV 

I circled the arena with Cardin, each of us eyeing one another. My whip-blades (that's what I'm calling them now) dragged along the floor as I waked, leaving slight scrape marks as they went, I could practically feel Goodwitch's glare behind me.

I could practically smell Cardin's anxiousness. He was at the edge of the arena. I was pleasantly surprised for a moment, thinking he wasn't as dumb as I had made him out to be and had realized by range advantage but then he ruined it by charging forward again, shouting his dumbass war cry.

As I readied myself, I heard Ruby shout from the stands, "Oh! Try doing the thing!"

I easily sidestepped to the left as he came charging past me, and gave my left whip-blade a flick, causing it to sweep his legs out from under him. As he struggled to his feet I looked over, noticing everyone in the stands watching the fight intently, some taking bets, and others pointing at my weapons and whispering about them, while RWBY and PRN were cheering me on, with Ruby at the edge of the arena so she could talk to me easier. I yelled back "Which "thing"? We talked about a lot of things!"

She groaned in frustration, "You know! The "Special attack"!"

I thought for a moment before getting an idea of what she was talking about, even though everything I did with these bad boys were pretty special. I gave her a thumb up, "I'll give it a shot."

I turned just as Cardin began his charge again, raising his mace high above his head, the perfect target. I took a second to aim before swinging my right whip-blade to the right towards his weapon… only for it to go way higher than I intended. It didn't even touch him as he continued his charge. I ended up having to roll out of the way as his mace came down where I was standing. As I popped out of it though, I swung my right whip blade right, from where it had followed its momentum to rest to my left, causing it to sweep Cardin's legs out from under him yet again.

As he hit the floor he growled out, "Stop DOING THAT!"

I shrugged, "Stop falling for it then? Didn't you have a jump rope as a child?" Before looking back up at Ruby. "I missed, I don't think if it's worth a second attempt right now."

She sighed in disappointment, "Oh well. We'll try again later… maybe you should try the other style?"

I grinned evilly, "Good idea." I ran my thumb over the hilt until I found what I was looking for: a barely noticeable slider, similar to what you would fine on headphone cords to adjust the volume. I started rolling it down, only instead of rolling smoothly, it clicked to another fixed point. I did this twice before stopping

As I activated this, the cable of the whip blade began to recede, pulling the blade segments closer together and shortening the length of the blade until instead of 44 feet they were now only 11 feet long, with only half a foot of length between each segment. It vastly decreased my range, but made them much easier to maneuver.

Cardin charged at me a again, this time actually trying something different and swinging to the side to cut me off when I tried to sidestep. I knew there were several simple ways I could dodge or counter, but I elected instead to jump over him, doing a summersault in the air and swinging the handles so that the length of the weapon struck his back, running up his back for the length of the whip, the one inch segments acted like the teeth of a sawblade as they slid along his back, making him scream n pain, and taking out a good fourth of his aura by the time I landed behind him, and let the blades' momentum bring them over my head and land at my sides.

Cardin fell to his hands and knees as he tried to catch his breath. I let him have a moment for the pain to fade before he got to his feet and turned to me with a murderous glint in his eyes.

That's when Goodwitch spoke up, "Mr. Belladonna I can understand that you have a pension for flashiness, judging by your choice of weaponry, but please refrain from prolonging the fight unnecessarily."

I rolled my eyes, "Sorry ma'am, I was just enjoying my first time with them, but if you insist, I'll finish it."

Judging by the way Cardin widened, he could tell I was serious, unfortunately for him, before he could get his mace up I was already on him. I had shot forward, whip-blades trailing behind me before stopping suddenly in front of him to swing both at him from both sides, leaving him no room for escape, the addition of momentum made the impact all the more painful.

I then assaulted him with series of vicious attacks, sometimes swinging with both blades from the right or left, with a few more cross attacks thrown in for variety, before finally his aura was almost in the red. I stopped my barrage long enough for him to stagger around a bit In a daze, his mace long since dropped to the ground, before I jumped up and brought both blades down on top of him, slamming him into the ground and causing the victory buzzer to sound.

Goodwitch walked to the center of the stage, "That concludes the match, congratulations Mr. Belladonna. Now, can anyone tell me what they did wrong?"

A random person shouted out, "You mean besides the fact that Cardin sucked?" the lame jab was met with a round of laughter, much to my surprise. I almost felt bad for Cardin as he looked around from is spot on the floor.

Goodwitch glared at the student, "There was indeed a lack of adaptability on Mr. Winchester's part, but Mr. Belladonna was also far from perfect. He leaned more toward looking "cool" than taking out the enemy efficiently."

She gave me a pointed look. I responded with as smirk, "So you admit I looked cool?"

She kept glaring as she growled out, "Remember everyone the Vytal festival is only a few months away, it won't be long before students from other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament, will represent all of Vale. Class dismissed." Before turning and stalking out of the classroom.

As the class started to erupt in conversation, I rolled the slider all the way in on my handles, causing the blades to recede all the way until they had linked back up in their sword forms, before turning to offer Cardin a hand up. I didn't want to leave a bad impression, but I turned to find him already up and jabbing a finger in my chest. "This isn't over Royal!" He then walked off in an angry huff, seeing as he was doing all the other stereotypical bully things.

I sighed, before walking off stage to meet up with my team and team RWBY.

"That was awesome!" Yang and Nora shouted as I approached, "I almost forgive you three for keeping it a secret all this time… almost."

Ruby, Pyrrha, and I all chuckled nervously under everyone's glares. It was true that we kept the design a secret from everyone else. It was my request, partly to surprise everyone the way I did, and partly to see how well they could keep a secret. Pyrrha was my partner, the person I would be closest to throughout my time at beacon, and Ruby was my fellow team leader. I was happy to not be disappointed, especially since everyone else nearly went mad trying to find out what it was we were building.

"And they worked perfectly?" Ruby asked, "No mishaps I didn't catch?"

I grinned, "They were better than I ever imagined. The only errors that occurred came from me."

Ruby smiled at that while Weiss gave her signature huff, "Well of course you made errors, I'm surprised you were able to control them at all as long as they were at first, was it really so important for them to reach all the way from one end of the arena to the other?"

Ren spoke up as well, "Not to offend but, they seem a little unnecessary…"

I chuckled at them, "Well I mean I've gotten this far with my fists and feet alone, so I figured why not go all out with them? Precision is what martial arts is all about, but these…these are just fun."

Ruby hummed in agreement as she looked over them like a worried mother. That's when Blake commented, "You seemed to miss a strike back there though…"

I lowered my head. Of course, they wouldn't let that go unnoticed, "It was my first time using them in combat. cut me some slack, it's way different from knife throwing."

"Yeah!" Nora said, making me smile at her support, until she continued with, "But even I have to ask what you were aiming for. Was there some invisible enemy standing on his head or something?"

I sighed, "Maybe it would be better if I showed you…"

We made our way over to the field behind the dorms, although "'field" was a very nice way of putting it. It was more like a warzone, as it was popular for combat training when the training rooms were booked up. It was probably the only place in Beacon that wasn't pristine and beautiful. The ground had long since given up on growing anything, and only consisted of dirt and ash.

I released my right blade to its full length, and gave it a quick flick to spread it out. Ruby stood several yards away from me, and everyone else stood at the side looking between us.

"Ready?" Ruby asked, heaving her Scythe on her shoulders

I nodded to her, "Hold it up!"

She pointed her weapon high in the air, giving me a wide target as I once again swung my right blade with all my might. It arced around the field straight toward the scythe. When it reached it, instead of just clanging against it, the whip blade seemed attack it, wrapping around the shaft of her weapon and staying there. With a short tug, I ripped the weapon out of her hands, sending it flying towards me, where I caught it carefully. I then turned to the stunned individuals watching and bowed.

"I thought you said you just got those things!" Nora exclaimed, "How can you already do something like that?"

I laughed giddily, "There's no skill involved, come on, try to remove the scythe."

"Carefully!" Ruby added, much to no one's surprise.

Nora shrugged and walked up to me, taking the wrapped up scythe from my hands, and tried to unwrap the whip blade, only to find it not budging. With a frown, she then started trying to slide the weapon out of its binding, but once again failed. She growled slightly in frustration, "What's going on?"

I smiled and clicked another button on the handle, causing the whip to lose its grip on Ruby's weapon, which she caught and started cradling, "I actually drew inspiration for this from my amazing partner over here," I gestured to Pyrrha, causing her to blush and look away, "There are electromagnets installed in each segment of the blade, and I can activate them and deactivate them at the press of a button."

I demonstrated this a few more times as the others watched with interest, until finally Weiss spoke again, "I suppose that's fairly useful… if you were able to use it effectively. What's the point if you can't use it in real combat."

I rolled my eyes, "You are just dead set on ruining my mood today, aren't you? well it won't work! The point, Weiss, is that I'm going to train with it until I can use it effectively, and until then, it has other uses. For example:" I wheeled around, while once again realign in the blade, and pointed up to the top of the dorm building, specifically to the metal railing lining the roof. "Keep your eye on that."

As they did so, I readied my right blade yet again, before thrusting it forward with a well-timed aura enhancement, and at the last second, released the blade completely, using the momentum to shoot it forward until it struck the railing on the roof, where it attached magnetically.

I looked over at the others and gave a little salute, before reeling in the blade once again, yanking me off the ground and pulling me up to the roof with great speed. As I was almost there, I deactivated the magnet and let it reel in the rest of the way while I flew over the railing and landed on the roof with a light thud.

I turned around and gave a bow as the others chuckled and clapped, mildly impressed. "Still think it's not useful Weiss?" I asked cheekily.

She rolled her eyes and took out her scroll, before saying, "It's lunchtime, we should go eat."

And just like that everyone agreed and started making their way towards the cafeteria, leaving me on the roof. "Guys? Come on! Don't you want to watch me show off some more?"

When no one responded I sighed and shrugged, "Oh well, I am kind of hungry." I turned and started racing over the rooftops of the school, occasionally throwing out my blades and swinging across the longer gaps, and overall having a great time with my new weapons. I definitely owed Ruby and Pyrrha big time for them. There was one thing I was certain of: nothing could ruin this day.

I dropped off my weapons at my locker before arriving at the cafeteria just as the others were walking through the doors. I quickly joined them and we went to get our food.

After we had all gotten our food, we made to sit down at our table. As we did, Ruby asked, "So have you decided on what to name them yet?"

I looked at her curiously, "Name what?"

She looked at me as if I had just cursed in her holy temple, "Your weapons of course! All good hunter weapons need a name!"

I blinked, "Why?"

At this point she looked just about ready to explain through her fists, as tiny as they were, but I was saved by Yang, "It's traditional I guess. At Signal they had you give one for a grade when you finished building your weapon. The idea is that you should "know your weapon by name" to be truly effective in combat."

"Right," Pyrrha chimed in "But it can't be just anything. It has to be something meaningful."

In nodded thoughtfully, "Okay then… how about I name one Ruby and one Pyrrha."

The table suddenly went very quiet. I looked around to see that everyone had stopped to stare at me, some mid-eating (AKA Nora with a pancake hanging out of her mouth. She realized this was lunch, right?) "What? Is that bad?" I asked.

"Not bad per say..." Blake said, with a slight red tint to her cheeks "It's just…"

Ren, one of the few at the table who were not blushing up a storm, said, "The name is supposed to be something incredibly meaningful to you. So, naming them after someone else is akin to…"

He trailed off again, leaving me still confused. Eventually however, Nora came to the rescue… by bursting out laughing and saying, "You may as well propose now!"

I froze upon realizing the meaning of her word, before scrambling to dig myself out of the hole, "That's not what I meant! Seriously I was just trying to thank them for helping, I don't think of them like that! Pyrrha, Ruby, you know what I meant right?"

The red and bronze girls were still beside themselves with embarrassment, leaving me with a twitchy eye as Nora laughed her ass off in the background. Then came Yang, to make everything worse. "Oh? And who _do_ you think about that way?"

I felt my body heating up more and more against my will, "N-no one!"

Nora gasped, "I sensed hesitation!" Ever helpful that one,

I looked around desperately for any support, but all I found were more questioning looks and a sympathetic one from Ren, before he went back to his lunch.

"Seriously? I'm not into anyone like that guys! I have more important things to worry about than romance!"

A few in the group seemed to nod in agreement to this statement, like Weiss and Blake, but Yang was unfillable. "Oh really? So after spending all this time with all of us beautiful women, you don't find a single one of us attractive? That's pretty mean."

My twitch returned with a vengeance, "What? Please, you all know that I didn't mean—"

Then, to my horror, Weiss, casually said, "Actually it is a bit insulting."

"Yeah," Blake said, "It's like you don't even notice us when you're around, it's pretty rude."

I couldn't comprehend what was happening as I turned to Pyrrha and Ruby with a questioning look. Ruby seemed to be busy calming down, and didn't say anything, but Pyrrha smiled, shrugged, and said, "It would be nice if you at least acknowledged if we look good or something, I'm your partner and you don't even say good morning or good night to me…"

With that final blow, I slumped forward in defeat, face planting on the table, after moving my tray out of the way of course, and letting my hair completely cover my face. "I guess I'll find a different name then…"

As I sat there, dying inside, I heard Yang say, "Wow! He really broke this time. Well that was fun, so while we're on the subject of "wanting things" how is everyone doing with the journey of self-discovery? Anyone find their Zen yet?"

Curious, I looked up to find hands raised from Weiss, Blake, and Nora, which didn't really surprise me. Not to say that she's simple minded, but in terms of knowing what she wants, almost everyone knew it started with R and rhymed with Sven, except for the man himself of course, which still boggled my mind, as he was so perceptive with everything else. I was a bit surprised with Weiss and Blake though, they both seemed like they had a lot of inner conflict, it made me wonder what they discovered.

Apparently Ruby was thinking the same thing, after finally recovering from earlier, she said, "What, really! How? I've been trying all week and I've gotten nowhere! What did you find out?"

I looked to Weiss, Nora, and Blake, and saw them all tense up, which I was more or less expecting. I sat up, "Ruby, you shouldn't ask them that."

She looked at me in surprise, "Why? You shared yours?"

I chuckled, "And you remember what I said right?" the sudden sadness on her face confirmed that she did indeed remember, "I told you all who I am because I thought it would help you figure yourself out. I didn't get anything out of it, and I most certainly didn't enjoy it. If they want to share that's their choice, but if they don't want to, never push them. Not to say that they all have deep dark secrets, but they may have some personal facts that they want to stay personal, am I right?" I looked over at the three girls who all nodded gratefully.

Ruby frowned and hung her head, "Sorry, I should have thought of that…"

God that girl is adorable. I elbowed her gently to get her to look up at me, "Don't worry about it, nobody thinks you had ill intentions." Everyone nodded in agreement, making Ruby smile softly. It disappeared however, when someone yelled, "Ow! That hurts!"

We all looked up to see an older girl, clad in coffee colors, having one of her rabbit ears being tugged on than none other than Cardin Winchester, who laughed to his friends, "See I told you they were real, what a freak!"

I felt a new warmth rise in my body, deep in my chest. I found myself digging my nails into my palms to keep my mind clear as I watched the interaction.

Pyrrha scoffed, "Atrocious, I can't stand people like him."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Yang sighed "I don't get it though, isn't she a second year? She should be able to take him down no problem!"

"She likely is," I explained in barely contained rage, "But the Faunus are on thin ice at the moment, thanks to the white fang. She knows that if she gives even the slightest reason, they'll label her "wild/" and use it as an excuse to do even worse things to her later, and a lot of police officers would do jack shit to stop it."

"No way…" Ruby said, "But what about Ozpin? He'd stop it right?"

I shrugged, still watching as Cardin finally let go after the girl begged him to, "I don't know what he'd do, but he definitely can't be everywhere at once."

Ruby frowned at that, while Blake nodded sadly, and everyone felt a joint sense of depression.

The Faunus girl hurried away after Cardin let go, and I hoped that that was the end of it, but sadly, he got up to follow her.

I stood up from my seat, and stated as calmly as possible, "I'm going to go have a word with him.

I didn't wait for a response before I turned at started making my way towards the group surrounding the girl in the corner of the cafeteria. As I drew closer, I overheard Cardin saying, "Tell you what freak, do a few tricks for us, and we might just give you some carrots later…"

That was where I lost my cool. My nostrils flared in disgust and I barked, "Cardin!" no longer interested in hiding my anger.

He turned and looked at me with annoyance, "Oh look what we have here fellas: the showoff. You may think you're a big shot with your fancy hair dye and your oversized toothpicks in the ring, but without them, here, your nothing but a—" He was cut off as I rammed my fist into his smug face, sending him flying into the wall behind him. If not for his aura, he likely would have been knocked out right there, instead he simply lost a good chunk of his aura.

He slid to the ground and laid still for a moment, not sure how to react, his buddies in a similar state, before he shook it off and yelled at his team, "Get him!"

They all got into a variety of fighting stances, all of which told me that not one of them was properly trained in unarmed combat. They probably thought they could take me down with numbers. It wasn't a stupid plan per say, but it was certainly cowardly. As Cardin got to his feet to join his team, I glanced over at the girl, "You should probably get out of here."

She looked at me with wide eyes, then back at the assholes then back at me, "I-I can't let you take them alone!"

One of the guys finally got brave and charged at me with his hands at each side, probably looking to tackle me. I responded by turning to the slide up and delivering a firm kick to his face, sending him flying back as well. The other two tried approaching at the same time, one delivering a punch to my face from my right, the other aiming to kick me in the side from my left. I blocked the right guys punch had skillfully wrapped my arm around his, effectively twisting it painfully and making him cry out in agony, before twisting my body, sweeping the left guys leg out from under him before his leg reached me, and throwing the right guy's body into the left guy while he was midair, sending them both into a groaning pile to my left.

I could tell they still had some aura left, but they still took their sweet time getting up from the floor, looking at me hesitantly. Cardin had watched his teammates get decimated in horror, before glaring at me once more. "Why do you even care about the bunny bitch? You an animal lover or something?!"

I felt my anger growing more and more as he spoke, I once again dug my nails into my hands to ground me, allowing openings in my Aura so I could feel it "You are aren't you? I should have known," at this point the smug look had returned to his face, as if his entire team hadn't just been pathetically destroyed, "That's it: you wanted her for yourself! I get it man. Take out us and the take her home as the hero, where she rewards you with anything you want. I bet she'd get real dirty too."

I felt my body trembling, "Do you ever SHUT UP!" I screamed.

Suddenly I felt a hand grab my shoulder, I turned, ready to punch whoever it was, only to freeze when I found a very alarmed looking Pyrrha standing there, behind her, the rest of the group looked tense and ready to jump up off the table as well. I was confused as to what the problem was, until Pyrrha grabbed my raised fist and pulled it between us, where Cardin and the resto the cafeteria behind her couldn't see. She opened my fist to reveal my fingers slowly growing darker, and my fingernails significantly longer, pointier and more silver than usual. My eyes widened at this, as I know I didn't activate the claws on purpose, and I didn't even know it was happening. I looked at Pyrrha and nodded gratefully as I willed them away before anyone saw them. Or so I thought, until I noticed that the Faunus girl was still standing to the side, staring at us with an unreadable expression. Pyrrha followed my eyes and saw her as well. "Shit."

I don't know what was freaking me out more: the fact that I had accidentally transformed, the fact that this girl had just seen my powers, or the fact that Pyrrha Nikos had just cursed. But regardless I took a deep breath and took control of myself. I grabbed Pyrrha's hand and led her over to the girl, where I took her hand as well and led them both out of the cafeteria, struggling to remain calm as Cardin calmed after us, "Yeah run away freak! Tell me how she was!"

I led the girls outside and to a secluded spot on campus, where I finally let them go and turned to face them, only to see them both blushing slightly from the prolonged hand holding. I sighed at my social ineptitude before I looked at the girl seriously, "About what happened back there— "

"Thank you!" she blurted out, stopping me. "I'm sorry you felt you had to do that, I should have just taken care of them myself…"

"No no! It's not your fault, we both know that anything you did would have made it worse for yourself in the long run. I just couldn't keep my cool when they kept harassing you, I hope I didn't make it worse for you."

She shook her head, "If worse comes to worse, I have a team that will back me up. But I am grateful for the help, really."

I nodded, "Of course, your welcome, now… about the hand thing…"

She nodded as if she knew why I was asking, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're a Faunus."

I blinked, confused for a moment until I realized why she thought that. There were types of Faunus who could grow claws on command, so it would stand to reason that I was one of those. It made more sense than human-Grimm hybrid. However, I took too long thinking about this, so Pyrrha had to come to my rescue.

"Thank you, we would really appreciate it. Only a select few know about it and we would like to keep it that way." She explained.

The girl nodded eagerly, "Of course! I won't tell a soul without permission."

I gave a sigh of relief, until she asked, "But I was wondering… how are your claws silver? I've never heard of anyone with sliver claws,"

Pyrrha looked at me with concern, obviously unsure of what to say, but this time I was on top of it. "It's a rare mutation, maybe even the first of its kind. If the wrong people find out about it..."

She understood, "I got it, don't worry… I'm sorry what's your name?"

I smiled and held out my hand, "Royal, and you?"

She took my hand, "Velvet Scarlentina. Thank you again for the help, please let me know if you ever need anything in return let me know."

I nodded, "I will… We should probably get to class though…" it took her a few minutes to realize that she was still holding my hand. Seriously, why was every girl in this school so weird?

She quickly let go, laughing nervously, "Right. I should let you go. Have a good day!" And with that she turned and walked off briskly. And by briskly, I mean she was walking as fast as I could run without aura, I shouldn't be surprised though, Rabbit Faunus often had superhuman strength in their legs, making them way faster than the other Faunus'""

I rubbed my face as I turned to face Pyrrha, who now had a serious look on her face, "What was that back there? I thought you wanted to keep your powers a secret."

"I do!" I exclaimed, before collecting myself, "Sorry, I do, I didn't mean to bring the claws out."

She looked at me quizzically, "Really? You've never said anything about "accidentally" transforming before, has it happened before?"

I shook my head, "Never, not once. But to be fair, I don't think I've ever been that angry before."

"Really?" I turned to find the others had caught up with us, with Blake in front, and all of them wearing worried looks, "The way you spoke before, you seemed like no stranger to racists like Cardin and how they act. "

I nodded, "Ryo made sure I was aware, but I've never really experienced something that bad firsthand, growing up in Vacuo didn't give me much opportunity. I guess I just… lost control, literally."

That put everyone in an unpleasant mood for the rest of the day, though they tried to hide it. I knew what they were thinking: "If he lost control once, he might again."

So what I originally though was a great day had turned incredibly sour. As I laid in my bed that night, waiting for the others to finish showering and getting ready for bed, I even began to wonder if I trusted myself not to lose control again, or to not hurt someone. Then there was a knock on the door.

I got up and opened to reveal Weiss and Yang standing there in their pajamas, with Yang holding a large box in her hands. "Uh what's up guys?"

Weiss spoke up first. "Anton finished your coat, and sent it here. We thought we would come give it to you personally. I think it turned out quite well."

Yang laughed, "I'll say, it looks even more badass than before! Just FYI though, Ruby heard about it, and gave her own request to Anton, I think you'll know it when you see it."

I nodded and reached out to take the box. As I did so, I noticed ever so subtly the twitch in Weiss' hands, and the shift in Yang's right foot. I felt my heart drop once again as I took the box, "Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow." I went to close the door but it was stopped by Yang, who was looking at me apologetically, "We're sorry Royal, it's just— "

"I know." I told her, "I didn't even know I could lose it like that. You have every right to be scared."

Weiss huffed, "I'm not scared, I'm cautious. You need to learn to either to not transform like that, or to control your temper entirely."

I nodded, "Yeah but how? Where do I start anger management class? I don't think that would go very well"

"I can help!" Yang declared, "I'm great at pissing people off, if you can learn to hold off against me, you'll be fine! And Weiss can be there!"

I nodded in agreement, thinking how that could actually work, when Weiss asked, "Why would I be there?"

Yang and I looked at each other before I said, "So we don't get off track."

That seemed to satisfy her. they said goodnight and went back to their dorm, leaving me with my box as I closed the door.

"Oh! What's that!" Nora asked excitedly as she saw it. She practically bounced out of her bed to come watch as I opened it up. Inside was my coat, but it was a bit different from before.

The sleeves were patched up by lines of silver, which also ran down the sides of the entire coat, as if it had been cut in half and the cut was covered up with silver plating. There was also silver metal spaulders on each shoulder, which ii had to say looked pretty cool.

"Awesome!" Nora exclaimed as I took it out and put it on, reveling in the feeling of having it back.

"It is quite 'an upgrade," Ren noted from his bed,

I reached into the pocket and pulled out a note that appeared to be from Anton. It read: _As promised, free of charge! I infused it with Earth dust to keep you from "growing out of it" again, and there is also pretty much no chance of it being ripped or torn any other way either. it will also absorb around 15% of damage from most attacks. Thanks to the materials resilient nature, I was also able to add one more dust type. I finally got to try out infusing Lighting dust with clothing, No one ever asked for it, as it gives the enemy an electric shock when hit, but of course it only works when getting hit. With the combination of this and the earth dust, I think it will be a most powerful piece of equipment. However, the lightning dust will eventually wear out from use, so I installed a recharging device inside the coat, just plug a lighting dust cartridge in there to recharge it. Of course, if you wish to change it I will do one reinfusion for free, but after that I will have to charge you. thank you again for the opportunity to work with it, it was quite the experience also your friend had me commission that last bit of equipment, I took the liberty of making sure it clashed well._

I grinned widely at the infusion choices. I likely wouldn't have thought of something like that, it will come in handy with hand to hand encounters. I looked in the box to see what bit of equipment he was talking about, and smiled warmly when I saw it.

It was a small bit of silver that only covered my pectorals, making it light enough not to slow me down or impede my flexibility. I figured that this was Ruby's addition, as it would have likely slowed down the deathstalker stinger a bit, or even stopped it, if it was strong enough."

I set it aside, intending to try it on tomorrow, just as Pyrrha came out of the bathroom in her pajamas. Instantly noticing my coat, "Oh hey! It's finally back. I'm happy for you Royal, it looks very good."

I smiled, 'Thanks, I think so too."

Then Pyrrha walked over to her bed and sat down facing me, "Royal, I was hoping you could help me with something"

I looked at her curiously, "Of course, what is it?"

She sighed, "The whole "meditation" thing, I just can't seem to make any progress."

Ren nodded in agreement "I've had the same problem. I've been trying everything I can but I haven't found the activity that suits me best. I even tried traditional meditation, but it didn't work."

I nodded, "Well I'm not surprised, I can't think of anyone who could find themselves by sitting down and just doing nothing."

Nora shrugged, "I don't know, it seemed to work for me."

Everyone turned to stare at the hyperactive, short-attention-panned and frankly insane girl on their team.

I began to lay down, "I'll work on it with you tomorrow, but right now I'm done with being conscious."

Ren and Pyrrha agreed and went to sleep, with Nora following soon after. I know that I had a blanket that was better suited to the job, but I opted instead for wrapping myself in my coat once again.

I hadn't slept so good in weeks.

 **Chapter 8**

 **Let me know what you think the names of the weapons should be, I'm honestly having trouble. The next chapter might not be for a few weeks, cause I'm about to start a new fic that I hope I'll get really into and write a bunch for before I lose interest and come back to this one, soon I'll start cycling through all my fics to constantly rejuvenate my creativity, and keep me fresh.**


	9. Chapter 9

Third Person POV 

Pyrrha stood in the middle of the arena, looking around, trying hard to hide her nervousness. Only the circle of the arena was lit up, leaving the rest of the room in darkness, and giving her opponent plenty of space to lurk in. As small sound made her whirl around with her rifle at the ready, only to see nothing.

She grimaced, "Come out! This is cowardly."

A low chuckle reverberating across the room, "What you call cowardice, I call tactics."

Pyrrha scoffed, "How so? All you're doing is hiding!"

Just then, a blur of purple and silver shot out of the darkness from her left, striking her as it passed, and taking out a chunk of her aura, before disappearing again into the darkness to her right. As Pyrrha held her shield and rifle up towards where he disappeared, he chuckled again, "Indeed, do you really think I'm going to risk a head on conflict with the "Goddess of Victory?""

Pyrrha rolled her eyes as she continued to search for any sign of him in the darkness. "It's only a dumb name some fans came up with, for all you know you could beat me easily."

"Perhaps… but this is way more fun!"

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, "For you maybe…" However, as she was talking, she was listening closely, as she had noticed a sound right before his last attack.

A few moments later she heard it again, from behind her. she spun around just in time to block the next attack with her shield, putting Royals grinning face inches away from hers, as he pushed against her shield with his dual ninjato, he held them in a reverse grip, crossing his arms slightly to form an X formation against her shield. As their weapons scraped, Pyrrha noted the sinister gleam in his eye, emphasized by his elongated canines. He wore his newly upgraded trench coat, over his black pants and shirt, and silver laced combat boots. His coat hung open to reveal the chest plate covering his upper torso, providing extra protection for his more vital organs, while also not lowering his maneuverability. As the two fought against each other for a few moments, each looking into each other's eyes fiercely, Pyrrha came to a conclusion.

"You're enjoying this way too much."

He shrugged, "Must be the predator in me."

Pyrrha scoffed and strafed back, while also swinging her weapon, now in spear form, at his head, only for him to bend backwards, doing a backwards cartwheel to push himself back into the shadows.

Pyrrha got on the defensive once again as she waited for the next attack, "Is it the Polarity that's scaring you? I could hold back— "

She was cut off as her opponent suddenly shot at her head on, using one of his short swords to bat her shield out of the way in a burst, while the other went for her neck. Pyrrha quickly found herself on a desperate defensive as she awkwardly blocked it with the shaft of her spear. She then blocked most of his following strikes with her shield while she shifted her spear into a sword for the close combat. Once it was finished she met his next strikes with her sword, creating a small opening, which she used to ram her shield into his chest, pushing him back, enough to give her a breather, but not enough to cause much damage.

As he panted, Royal smirked and began to circle her, "Very impressive. Just what I'd expect from my amazing partner."

Pyrrha forced the blush on her cheeks down, as she glared at him, "Flattery will get you nowhere."

He chuckled and shrugged, "Just stating facts." He then flipped his blades in his hands, so he was holding them like actual swords, before shooting forward once again, only this time Pyrrha was ready for him. She dodged his incoming strike, using his momentum against him, and attacked while he tried to regain his balance. She unleashed a flurry of hacks and slashes at his arms and midsection, trying to avoid the more armored areas. She got in quite a few good hits, bringing his aura down to below half, before he gathered himself, and caught her blade between both of his, before pushing it upwards. He then began an attack of his own, aiming for chinks in her defense and stabbing and jabbing them with scary precision. However, he had to juggle it with dodging Pyrrha's counterstrikes, not always successfully. Before both of them knew it, they were each below a quarter of their aura, and were panting heavily.

Pyrrha was also very confused about something, though she tried not to show it, however Royal picked up on it, as he was waiting for her to notice. "Having trouble? Perhaps with your polarity?"

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes at him, "Why isn't my polarity working on your blades?"

He smiled and put a hand to his lips, "That would give away the surprise."

She shrugged, "Very well, perhaps they will work on your armor."

As she held her hand up, Royal frowned, as he apparently had not considered this, and was caught momentarily off guard as he was lifted into the air by his armor. "Well that's just cheating."

It was Pyrrha's turn to smirk, "Really? You were the one who was ambushing me left and right. You can't call this cheating"

He shrugged, "Yeah… but that gave me enough time to do this." He raised both arms straight up, with his blades pointed up as well, and slid out of his coat and armor, having undid the straps of the torso while she was talking. As soon as he landed on the ground he switched to reverse grip and shot forward towards his stunned opponent, before striking upwards with both blades, running them along Pyrrha's torso, before switching back to normal grip, and striking back down.

The buzzer sounded, indicating that Pyrrha's Aura was now in the red. She sighed and sheathed her weapons, before raising an eyebrow at Royal, who was still frozen with his blades pointed back, where they rested after his final strike, and his head down. "What are you doing?"

Without looking up he answered, "Posing for the picture."

Just then a flash came from the darkness, before the rest of the lights turned back on, revealing Ren, Nora, and team RWBY cheered from the stands. Nora was standing with her scroll up, and waved to Royal, "Got it!"

Royal then got up from his pose and went to put his armor and coat back on., "How's it look?"

She looked at the picture before grinning, "Awesome!"

Royal smiled back as he got dressed, but before he could say anything, Weiss scoffed as she looked over Nora's shoulder, "Try ridiculous."

As Royal hopped down from the Arena floor, he let out a sigh, "Do you always have to be such an ice queen?"

Weiss glared, "Do you always have to make a silly pose after every victory."

"Against Pyrrha? Yes." He responded, before turning and offering a hand to Pyrrha as she was about to step down from the stage. She graciously took it and let him help her down. As she walked forward she winced a bit. "You okay?"

She nodded to him, "Yes, I suppose I'm just not used to losing…"

"The fact that you can say that while being completely genuine is something _I_ have to get used to." Yang commented, "Anyways, Weiss, Ren, Blake, pay up."

As the groans were sounded and the lien changed hands, Royal looked on in surprise, "You bet on the fight?"

Ren shrugged, "It was Yang's idea. Sorry, I know you're my leader and all, but Pyrrha's reputations preceded her.

"Yeah and how'd that work out for you?" Nora asked as she counted the lien he handed her, "Don't worry Boss, I knew you'd do it."

Royal chuckled, and went to thank her, but Pyrrha interrupted him, "Are you going to tell me how you counteracted my semblance?"

He pointed to Ruby, "It was her idea, so I'll let her explain it."

Pyrrha looked at the crimsonette, who practically bounced with pride and excitement, "It's the electromagnets! I programmed them to be able to project a magnetic field over the blades to repel any other magnetic fields. Basically, I put in a button to demagnetize them! Sorry we didn't tell you…" She looked a bit sheepish at Pyrrha, who was simply staring at her, before she burst out laughing.

"That's quite alright," she responded, "It was quite the surprise. For a moment, I thought I had forgotten how to use my semblance!"

The others followed her in laughter, before Ruby spoke again, "So… speaking of the blades, have you named them yet?"

Wat this everyone turned to look at Royal, who tensed up at the sudden attention "Uhhh… yes actually."

There was a moment of silence before Nora shouted, "Well! What are they?"

Everyone nodded in agreement while Royal held his hands up in surrender, "Alright!" he unsheathed his blades and held up the right, "This is Spartan," then the left," and this is Reaper."

Blake was the first to ask, "Why'd you name them that?"

Everyone leaned in close in anticipation, but Royal just said, "Isn't that supposed to be private?"

"Oh, come on!" Yang drawled, "What even _is_ a Spartan?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, it just sounds cool. Look you wanted me to name them and I did. You can't make me change them _again_."

"He's right they're fine." Blake said, which Royal thanked her for.

"More importantly, we need to get to class." Weiss stated. Royal didn't thank her for it.

Reluctantly they all filed out of the combat room. They had snuck in early in the morning to have the "big fight" in private, but now they had to deal with their biggest challenge of all: history class.

Royal POV

I struggled to keep my eyes open as Doctor Oobleck droned on. Not because it was boring, but because Ryo literally used to tell me stories of the Faunus Revolution before bed. Maybe stories of bloody war weren't the best thing to tell a 4 year old before bedtime, but he raised me on the streets while fighting Grimm for a living, he wasn't a conventional kind of father. To be fair though I did learn a lot, which made this particular class pretty pointless for me.

As I struggled to stay awake however, I felt something hard strike me in the back of the head. I rubbed the back of my head as I turned around to glare at whoever through it, only to see Cardin snickering at me. I was about to turn back around, when I saw what he threw: a fucking rock the size of my fist.

Setting aside the fact that it should have hurt way more than it did, I looked back up at Cardin in disbelief, whispering, "Are you insane?"

As if to answer my question, Cardin then laughed loudly at me. unfortunately, for him this gained the attention of Oobleck, "Mister Winchester! Finally contributing to class eh? Excellent! Tell me then, what advantage did the Faunus have over general Lagoons forces at the battle at Fort Castle?"

Cardin stared at him in confusion, "Uhhh…" As he did so, I couldn't help but let out a laugh myself.

Before I knew it however, Oobleck was in front of me as well. "Something funny Mister Belladonna?"

I took about two seconds to collect myself, "Sorry sir, it's just that the stupidity of this story always cracks me up! But I don't want to spoil it."

Oobleck stared at him for a moment before cracking a smirk, "Indeed, I suppose I can't blame you, but please try to contain yourself." He then zoomed back to Cardin, startling the bully, "Now Mister Winchester, what is your answer? What was the Faunus' advantage?"

Cardin was cut off guard for a moment before leaning back and shrugging, "Well I know it's easier to train an animal than a soldier."

Oobleck frowned and took a step back as Pyrrha scoffed at him, "You aren't the most open minded of individuals, are you Cardin?"

He glared back at her, "What? You got a problem?"

"No, I have the answer." Pyrrha replied calmly. "It's not night vision. Many Faunus are known to have near perfect vision in the dark."

"General Lagoon tried to attack the Faunus while they were asleep," Blake continued, while looking at Cardin, "but quickly found himself outmatched in the darkness. Perhaps if he paid attention in class, he wouldn't be remembered as such a failure."

Cardin stood up angrily as I burst out into laughter once again. Oobleck, "Mister Winchester please take your seat, and Mister Belladonna, we all agree it was a very humorous tactical error, but that's quite enough."

After a few moments, I managed to catch my breath enough to say, "Actually this time I'm laughing at Cardin, he just got _burned_."

This caused the entire class to join me in laughter, while Oobleck sighed in disappointment. "I see. In that case you both can join me after class."

I shrugged as I kept giggling, "Yeah fair enough."

 **Later**

I walked out of Oobleck's classroom, followed shortly by an angry Cardin, who tried to shove me on the way out. Of course, I dodged it, letting him stumble and fall past me, before getting up angrily and storming off. I turned to head back to my dorm, only to see Pyrrha standing by the door. I stopped, "Were you waiting for me to come out."

She nodded, while avoiding eye contact for some reason, "Yes well… how did it go?"

I shrugged, "I got some extra homework. No biggie." Too bad I wouldn't be doing it tonight.

She nodded, before standing there awkwardly for a moment until I asked, "Do you need something…"

"No! I mean… yes. I was hoping you would help me…"

I took a step forward, "Of course, just say the word. What do you need help with?"

She sighed, "The "meditation" thing. Ruby found hers in cleaning her scythe, Ren found his in cooking, Even Yang found hers in riding her motorcycle. I'm the only one left who hasn't found my center, and I feel terrible for it, since you said you wouldn't teach them anything else until everyone did. I've been trying hard to find it but no matter what I do I just keep holding everyone back and— "

"Hey!" I interrupted her, causing her to look up at me to reveal that she was near tears, "Calm down okay? I said I'd help you before, and I haven't made good on that promise, I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened, "No! I didn't mean— "

"I know. But it's true. Now come on, let's head back to the dorm and get started."

She took a moment before nodding and smiling gratefully, "Okay."

As we walked through the halls I began, "I think your main problem is that you keep "trying" so hard to find it. When you find your thing, it should feel effortless. What have you tried so far?"

She nodded thoughtfully at my words, "I thought training would be my thing like it is yours, but no matter how long I tried it got me nowhere. I then tried cleaning my weapon like Ruby, cooking like Ren, even plain mediation like Nora, but that was the worst of all. I just don't understand how she does it."

I smirked, "The world may never know how Nora works. But out of all of that, is there anything that you actually _enjoyed_ doing?"

She blushed a bit, "Well training has been my life for a long time now…"

"Yeah but why?" I asked

She shrugged as she looked down, "I come from a family of warriors, when they saw that I had talent, they all encouraged me to invest in it as much as possible. I couldn't let them down…"

I smiled, "That's a good reason Pyrrha, but it also means you don't do it for _you_. Me? I trained with Ryo for as long as I can remember, and now that he's gone, it's how I feel closest to him. I don't have to do it every day, I could easily skip a week with no serious repercussions, but I want that feeling. So, I do it for me. What do you do that's just for you?"

She looked at me for a moment before answering, "I… I'm not sure. I usually just train when at home, it always makes my parents smile. And when I go out, I usually get stuck signing autographs…"

I frowned at that, realizing at that moment that there was such a thing as "too nice" and Pyrrha was the embodiment of it. I shook my head however, and smiled at her determinedly, "Then I'll help you find it."

When we got back to the dorm room, Ren and Nora left a note saying they were studying in the library. This made it a bit easier for us. I went through several things with her, testing if it sounded fun to her, from skateboarding to coin collecting. Of course, I had to pressure her each time to get her to admit that they in fact didn't sound fun at all, as she didn't want to be rude.

Eventually I was running out of ideas, until I looked again at Nora and Ren's note. "Do you like reading?"

I soon found myself over at RWBY's dorm, asking Blake to borrow one of her books. She agreed. The first thing that caught my eye was "Ninjas of Love", because who doesn't love ninjas? And love's okay as well, but when I asked about it, she freaked out and made it very clear that she didn't want me anywhere near it, though I didn't know why. I eventually settled on a book about a hunter with a rare semblance, as it seemed vaguely reminiscent of my situation, only his allowed him to fly and shoot lighting dust out of his eyes, while mine turned me into a monster… Maybe not the same but definitely similar.

I presented it to Pyrrha and was about to walk away to let her read, but she spoke up, "Wait! Uh…"

I turned to look at her curiously, "Yeah? Something wrong? Is it the book? I can get another one—"

"No no! The books fine it's just… would you like to read it with me?"

I blinked, "Uhhh…"

She closed her eyes, "Sorry! Forget it! I was just— "

I rushed towards to sit next to her, "Hey it's fine! Some people feel better with company, I get it." I looked at the clock, "I have somewhere to in a few hours, but I have time. Let's do this."

She seemed to hesitate for moment, before nodding, "Okay."

We were a bit unsure how to go about it, but eventually ended up with me lounging on the couch next to her while she read aloud. It was a bit awkward at first, but eventually we got into it, not because the book was very good, in fact it was kind of awful. It was full of clichés and unnecessary moments, but we started enjoying pointing them out and laughing at them.'

"Okay now hold on a gosh darn minute"! said as he finished reading the third chapter, "To protect his secret identity, he just… wears a monocle?"

Pyrrha struggled to hold in her laughter as she nodded, "That's what it says."

I leaned forward, literally curling in on myself trying to process that, "How the heck does that even work? It's just putting a piece of glass over one of his eyes!"

Pyrrha giggled, "Maybe the monocle has some sort of hypnotic quality to it? That way anyone who looks at him won't see the resemblance."

I looked up to stare at her, "Pyrrha, you know that I respect you, but that has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

She might have been offended if she wasn't too busy laughing her ass off, "Really? what do you think then?"

I threw my hands in the air in frustration, "I still don't understand the need for a secret identity in the first place! I mean, "to protect my friends and family" is a bit bullshit don't you think? He's doing what every other Hunter and Huntress does, the only difference is he does it wearing unreasonably tight clothing."

At this Pyrrha had to put the book down as she clutched her sides in laughter. I eventually had to stop talking for a few minutes to let her catch her breath, before we continued. However, as she continued reading, I noticed a bit of red on her face, then her neck, then her torso…"

I suddenly interrupted her reading, "Pyrrha! Look!"

She looked to see me pointing at her, and soon noticed what I was talking about. She was now glowing with her red aura. "Looks like reading was your thing after all."

For a moment, I thought her face turned to a darker shade of red, but it was gone a moment later as she nodded and looked down, "Yes… I suppose it is…"

I raised an eyebrow at her less than convincing tone, but was distracted as I looked at the clock, "Oh crap, I got to go."

She looked up at me in surprise, "Really? Can I ask where?"

As I stood up I froze for a moment, considering what to say, before settling on, "It's… kind of personal. I might come back a bit late, so tell Ren and Nora not to worry. I'll do my best to be quiet if you all are asleep."

She looked skeptical for a moment before relenting, "Alright then. I'll see you later then…"

I nodded as I went to gather my wallet and scroll. Before I left though, I looked back at her one more time, "That was fun by the way, I haven't laughed that hard in a while."

She seemed stunned for a moment, before putting on her signature smile, "Me neither."

With that I nodded to her, and left the dorm, heading for the armory.

I arrived in the locker filled room to find Ruby sitting on a bench in front of her locker, carefully tending to Crescent Rose, while also glowing with her own red aura, a few shades darker than Pyrrha's. I chuckled quietly and started walking towards my own locker, not looking to disturb her, when I noticed that she was shivering slightly.

"Uh… Ruby?" I spoke up, causing her to jump and turn to look at me, her aura vanishing.

"Geeze Royal! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

I smirked as I held my hands up in surrender, "Sorry! I was gonna ask if you're okay. I noticed you were shivering."

Her cheeks turned pink before she turned back to her weapon. "They have to keep the room cool for all the electronics in the weapons and lockers."

I nodded, "Yeah… but doesn't your cloak keep you warm?"

At this she looked like she was trying to pull her head into her neck like a turtle, "It's… mostly decorative..."

There were a lot of things I could have said then, but knowing better than to confront someone on fashion at this school. I just accepted it and walked forward, taking off my coat as I did so, before draping it over her shoulders. This seemed to cause her to sit up straight, tensing up considerably. "What are you doing?"

I shrugged as I walked over to my own locker, "I was gonna put it in my locker anyway. I don't need it where I'm going. It should keep you warm until you're done, just make sure to put it back in my dorm room when you're done okay?"

I glanced back towards her as I pulled something out of my locker and put it in my pocket. She was holding one of the sleeves in front of her, staring at it intently for some reason. She then started bringing it up towards her face, until she noticed my looking at her and dropped it, "R-right! I will. Thank you!"

I nodded to her, still wondering what she was about to do, but deciding it was better not to dwell on it and made my way out of the room, only to stop as she said, "Wait! Where are you going?"

I grimaced, before putting on a smile and looking back at her, "Just following through on a promise.

 **Later, in Vale**

I forsook the bullhead transport for making my way to Vale by foot. It was around 20 miles from Beacon to Vale, but running at full speed with Aura enhanced legs chopped it down to a half hour trip, giving me plenty of time to set up shop in a hotel across form my target.

I was currently awaiting of the rival gang Junior hired me to take care of. While I waited, I readied myself for the attack. First, I tucked my long hair into the back of my shirt, as it was quite distinguishing, which is also why I left my coat and blades.

To replace the weapons, I brought something I had forged in secret after watching Pyrrha and Ruby work on my blades. I reached into my pocked to pull it out. It was an 8 inch, pitch black kunai knife, like the one my father used, with a few modifications.

I spun it on my finger a few times, getting used to the weight and feel, before sheathing it in a small pouch I attached to my waist. I then walked over to the mirror for the finishing touch

I looked at my face and concentrated. I was lying a bit when I told Weiss and Yang that I wore a mask during my jobs, but only slightly. After a few moments of concentration, silver plating started forming on my forehead before spreading over my face and head. I had to watch the whole time to make sure it went well, as the first few times I ended up looking more like a silver pumpkin, but now I was competent enough to encase my head in a silver covering, that looked a lot like a human skull.

I turned my head a bit In the mirror to make sure it looked right. It did a good job of covering my facial features, and the little bit of hair still showing in the back was easily covered by a purple scarf I borrowed from Nora's closet.

With that, the only thing left on my outfit that resembled me, was my black shirt and pants, and my silver chest plate, all of which were generic enough that no one would connect the dots.

Soon after I had determined myself ready, I heard a slew of cars pull up to the gang's hideout, signaling that it was time to go to work. As they got out of the cars, they proved to be unlike Junior's gang, who wore professional attire to all their jobs. These guys wore whatever they wanted, ranging from ripped jeans and dirty jackets, to guys wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, revealing their torsos covered in tattoos. Not that there is anything wrong with tattoos, but when they say, "Eat shit and die" in bright red letters on someone's chest, it doesn't send out a pleasant vibe.

I casually made my way up to the roof of the hotel, just in time to see the last few guys entering the building… while pulling a deer Faunus girl along with them. I sighed, as this job just got way more complicated.

I stepped back a few steps, before flinging myself from the hotel roof, using my clothes' wind infusion to soar across to the opposite roof with less aura expenditure than usual. I landed in a roll and quickly darted to the roof entrance, opening it carefully before making my way inside.

I made my way through the building silently, using training my father imparted unto me via very extreme games of Hide and Seek, where the loser got the smaller serving at dinner. It wasn't easy to sneak up on a cat Faunus, so I had a lot of angry dinners before I mastered it. It might seem like harsh motivation to some people, but back then, we were lucky to eat at all most nights, so it didn't seem like that big a deal.

As I thought back to those days, I spotted one of the crooks walking through the upstairs rooms. Luckily for me criminals like to hang out in shadowy areas, so it was relatively easy to sneak around him before delivering a powerful strike to his head, knocking him out, and confirming that at least one of them didn't' have aura.

I made sure to hide his unconscious body in one of the rooms before moving on to the rest of the building. I slowly made my way down, taking criminals one by one in silence. I soon figured out that the main group was on the bottom floor, with the girl. I had to stop myself from vomiting when I heard one talk about what they were going to do to her, but luckily, it involved setting up a camera, which gave me time to get to her before they could start.

Eventually I made it to the ground floor. I peeked down from the stairwell to see about seven to ten of them around the girl, who was tied to a chair in the center of the room. One of the guys had just finished setting up the camera, making the girl start to sob loudly, until the man next to her smacked her in the face, "Quiet bitch! Smile for the camera so everyone knows the place of you filthy animals."

I gritted my teeth at his words, but knew better than to act rashly. I scanned the room until I found what I was looking for.

I pulled out my kunai and threw it at the light switch with deadly precision, hitting the switch and shrouding the room in darkness. I quickly reeled the knife back to me, using Ryo's trademark aura string technique, before rushing towards the confused men, taking full advantage of my new night vision. I quickly took out two of the guys, by kicking one hard into the other, before moving on to the next guy, delivering a hard punch to his face, sending him crashing to the floor.

By the time one of them managed to find the light switch, he was the only one left standing. Unfortunately, he had had the sense to bright the girl with him, holding her at gunpoint. I froze as the lights turned on, and he seemed to have to do a double take when he saw me as well. "What the fuck are you?"

I considered my answer for a moment, a moment too long, as he ran out of patience and opened fire on me. I quickly activating my aura, letting it take the hits for me.

He didn't let up however, "Aura user huh? Well so am I! So, either you leave or I see how long it takes to crack you!"

I would have been disconcerted by this, but I was too busy smiling widely under my mask, as he had just made things way easier for me. I held up my knife, and pressed a button on the handle, causing him to laugh, "Seriously? What are you gonna do with tha—"

He was cut off as my arm shot out, flinging the knife at the shoulder of the arm holding the girl When it impacted, it did no physical damage due to his aura, but the impact caused his shoulder to be pushed back, making him let go of the girl. Then, before he could react, the sides of the blade opened up to let loose an explosion of ice, freezing the man in a solid chunk of ice, while the girl fell forward.

The terrified Faunus looked between him and I astonishment, but tensed up as I walked forward. Upon closer inspection, she was quite pretty. She had short blonde hair, with her animal ears sticking up from it, and bright blue eyes. I held up a hand to calm her down, and spoke in a deeper tone than normal, "Relax, his aura should protect him from freezing to death."

She shook her head, indicating that that's not what she was worried about, "A-are you here to hurt me too?"

I shook my head, "No I'm here to… well actually I was here to teach these guys a lesson. Saving you is just a bonus I guess. Are you hurt?"

She still didn't seem to want me coming closer, but she winced and held her leg, "I think one of them screwed up my ankle when they grabbed me."

I nodded, "Alright, I can take you to the hospital if you want, I'm guessing they threw away your scroll."

She nodded, "C-can you take off that mask first? It's kind of creepy…"

I chuckled, "I wish, but it's better that you don't see my face, I don't want publicity. Let me just take care of something real quick and then we can go."

She nodded slowly and watched me carefully as I picked up my knife, snapping the sides closed, before opening the pommel to remove the now depleted ice dust canister. I then used the blade to carve a message into the ice cube the leader was trapped in: "Leave town, or I will return, and I will not be as merciful."

Once I was finished I put the knife away and approached the Faunus girl, "I'm going to have to pick you up now, okay?"

She nodded reluctantly and allowed me to pick her up bridal style, before carrying her out the front door. Once we were outside, I turned towards the hospital and said, "Hold on tight, and don't freak out."

"Why would I—AAAH!" She was cut off as I poured my aura into my legs, before shooting into the air. I leaped from rooftop to rooftop, looking to get to the Hospital as quickly as possible. It's not that she was in critical condition, but I didn't want to be around the girl any more than necessary, lest she finds anything out about me that could bite me in the ass later.

We soon reached the facility, with her still screaming her head off, despite my warning not to freak out. Seriously doesn't anyone listen anymore? I set her down in front of the entrance, and turned to leave when she stopped me, "Wait! Who are you?"

I looked at her incredulously, "Are you unfamiliar with the concept of masks?"

She rolled her eyes, "Come on. I don't want to refer to you as "The Creepy Skull Guy" whenever I talk about this later."

"I would actually prefer you didn't talk about this."

She scoffed, "You should have thought of that before you took on an entire gang by yourself and then jumped higher than even a rabbit Faunus could. Give me a name or I'm making one up, I'm thinking something like Leroy – "

"Okay okay!" I broke, easily. But come on, I wasn't going to allow myself to be called Leroy. I have standards. "You can call me… the Grimm Reaper."

As I ran along the rooftops towards Junior's club, I felt soul crushing regret at the name I gave her. It sounded way cooler in my head than it did out loud. But I set it aside for now, instead thinking about what I would tell Junior. He'd understand the girl, but he'd be worried that the message didn't get across as well as it should have. He'd probably be right. I had to forsake brutality for stealth in order to make sure the girl was safe, so only the leader saw me. I'd probably have to go after them again.

But as I jumped another alley, I began to realize that I didn't mind that at all. Because guys like that make me sick. I even considered doing it free of charge. Of course, I wouldn't, but I definitely thought about it.

However, even as I thought about all of that, I couldn't shake then nagging feeling that the thing with the girl would somehow bite me in the ass, I just couldn't figure how.

 **The next morning**

I looked at my Scroll in disbelief. I was currently sitting on my bed, and had checked my scroll like I do every morning. The top story on the news had the headline, "Girl saved by "Grimm Reaper" Could this be Vale's own vigilante?"

I slumped forward, letting my forehead hit he screen, "Fuck me."

 **Chapter 9!**

 **Hey it's been a while since I updated this. I hope I didn't forget anything and mess something up, but if I did let me know, if not, tell me what you think of it otherwise.3q**


	10. Chapter 10

Royal POV 

"Alright, is everyone ready?" I asked. I was currently outside the school, standing in front of team RWBY and the rest of team RPRN. Everyone stood next to a large tree. As promised, now that everyone had found their meditation space, I was going to teach them a few aura techniques, starting with strength enhancement.

Every nodded and shouted to indicate that they were in fact ready, but before I began I gave a pleading look at Nora and Yang. "Are you sure you guys even need this? I mean It might just be a waste of your— "

"We're sure!" the two heavy hitters stated firmly, making me sigh and whisper, "This is going to bite me in the ass later on,"

I noticed black giving me a nod, as she heard me with her enhanced hearing. Nevertheless, I began the lesson. "Strength enhancement is fairly simple. You all know that when the aura is unlocked, you feel a bit stronger overall, if only a little bit." They nodded. "That's because the aura is encasing your entire body. To give a certain body part extra strength, all you need to do is direct a high concentration of aura in that area."

I glanced at Ren, "You're all probably wondering how you will learn a technique without having to touch your center. I will let Ren explain, as I'm sure he'll do it much more eloquently than I could. Ren?"

He nodded to me and demonstrated his disks, "The way I was taught to do this, was fairly simple. Because the Aura is the manifestation of your soul, it is also the manifestation of your passion. When you feel emotions, they are categorized by specific body heat signatures. I imagine something that makes me angry, happy, proud, or amorous, then I focus on the heat that comes with it, and try to will it to form in my hands, to protect me. Is that what you had in mind Royal?"

I nodded, "Yeah more or less. Thank you, Ren."

"That's all well and good," Yang said, "But "amorous"? what brings that out in you huh Ren?"

I sighed as Ren remained silent, and Nora's face practically screamed from her own curiosity. Thankfully, Weiss spoke up. Never thought I'd say that, "We're getting off track. Is it the same concept with strength enhancement?"

I shrugged, "Almost. the passion, the heat, all that's the same. But instead of willing it to form somewhere, all you really do is imagine the heat moving, shifting, and condensing itself into your desired muscles. Then comes the hard part: holding it there."

Ren raised an eyebrow, "I never had issue with holding my disks…"

I nodded, "Because the disks form outside the body. this involves building up aura inside yourself. Your body won't be used to it. The sensation is best described as "hot". The first few times you do this it will quickly become unbearable. Like many other things, constant practice is the only thing that will build up your resistance to it, and allow you to do it for longer. Now, let's begin."

I went through everything again, until one by one everyone started to feel it working. Yang scoffed as she activated hers, "I thought you said it would be hot. This is nothing!"

I smirked at her, "Just give it a minute."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping in place, before deactivating the enhancement, "That was weird."

Weiss yelped too, "Okay, I see what you mean."

One by one everyone dropped the enhancement as it started to cause them discomfort, some lasting longer than others. Eventually, only Yang was left, though by the twitch in her eye, it wasn't because of natural talent. "Yang, if it hurts you can let go."

She shook her head and spoke through gritted teeth, "Nah I'm good."

"Being stubborn isn't the same as being strong." Blake spoke up, "You're going to hurt yourself."

The Blonde rolled her eyes, "Please! My hair regularly sets on fire, a little heat won't—and I can't feel my arms. Royal! I can't feel my arms!"

I nodded, "That's what happens when you push it too far. It'll wear off in a few minutes."

Her eyes turned red, "You could have told me!"

I nodded, "I could have. Now, who's ready to go again? Besides Yang of course." I casually dodged Yang's limp arm as she swung it at my head, and moved towards Ruby who raised her arm to indicate she was ready.

I stood next to her, "Alright Ruby, right now I want you to face the tree, and get in your best fighting stance." She nodded and did as I said, ending up in a karate pose like they do in the movies. I sighed and began moving her arms and legs, making her jump, "What are you doing?!"

"You better watch your hands buddy!" Yang spoke dangerously as her arms dangled from her shoulders, "I don't need hands to break yours off.

I simply rolled my eyes and looked at Ruby, "Sorry, I'm just moving you into a stance that would suit you best. You're small, light, so you can be knocked over easily. You need to stand so you can give yourself more support against incoming attacks. Can I continue?" She made an O with her mouth after I explained what I was doing, and allowed me to continue, setting her up in a good stance, with her fists in front of her like a normal person, instead of up in the air like some demented crane. I then walked in front of her, and carefully pushed on her shoulder hard, until I was satisfied that she wouldn't fall over easily. "Good. Now punch the tree."

She blinked, "Huh?"

"Do you mean after she activates the enhancement?" Pyrrha asked hopefully, but I shook my head.

"No, do it with your own strength, everyone else follow her lead as well, except Yang of course," I ignored her glare, "I want you to see just how much of a difference the enhancement makes."

Once they were all ready, I nodded, "Strike!"

Ruby didn't even make a scratch in the tree, not that I was surprised. The same was true for Weiss, Blake and Ren. Pyrrha managed to send a few pieces of bark flying, while Nora put a small crater in the tree. I really didn't want to give her any more strength than necessary.

I nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, now try it with the enhancement. You should know how long you have until it starts to hurt now, so time the punch accordingly. Do it whenever you're ready."

The first one to go was Ruby, always the fastest. She reared back, took a deep breath, then punched the tree with all she had. As her fist made contact with the tree, it began to dig its way into the bark, not stopping until it had made a hole deep enough to reach the center of the tree. I clapped her on the shoulder as I smiled at her work, "Good job, I take it you see the difference?"

The red hooded girl was looking at her fist still in the tree in shock, but managed to nod numbly.

"Awesome!" Nora shouted, before she turned to her own tree and punching it. Unlike Ruby however, here strike went all the way through, toppling the tree crashing down. Nora looked back at me with a smile, while Ruby was no longer in shock, now frowning. "Why couldn't I do that?"

I put a hand on her shoulder as everyone looked at what Nora had done in horror. "She must have had a more powerful emotion powering her attack. I wonder what it was…" I went to stare at Ren, who was just continued to prepare for his own strike, acting oblivious as always. I sighed and looked back at Ruby, "Don't worry about it, my first hit was about as powerful as yours. You just have to find a more powerful emotion."

She nodded, but still didn't seem satisfied, but I had to go check on the others. Weiss got a little farther than Ruby, but didn't get through the tree, the same for Blake and Ren, while Pyrrha managed to get far enough through the trunk that the tree fell down from the lack of support.

Yang got tired of waiting for her Arms to wake up so she ended hitting the tree with a leg sweep, taking it down neatly. I chuckled at her, making her turn to me dangerously, "What you think you can do better?"

I raised an eyebrow as her hair was starting to blaze. "Maybe take a chill pill? I didn't mean anything bad by it. But since you asked…"

I walked past her and picked up the tree she felled, powering my muscles to allow me to allow me to hold it on one shoulder, before I took a step back, and threw it into the forest like a spear, taking down three or four trees before it stopped. I turned to see my classmates staring at what I did in awe, "With enough practice, you can forgo relying on certain memories, and just use pure passion to fuel your attacks. When you get to that, I'm sure some of you may be way stronger than I. for now however, we will focus on extending how long you can use it. But first: Lunch."

I sighed on the way to the cafeteria, as the others wouldn't stop asking questions. For example:

"Is that all you're going to teach us?" Weiss asked, "As useful as it is, not everything can be solved with brute strength."

I shrugged, "For now, yes. It's basic and the principles can be applied to a lot. Ideally you all will start making your own techniques, once you're able to manipulate your own aura freely."

"But isn't that what we did by shifting the heat?" Pyrrha asked.

I shook my head, "It's similar but not the same. What you did was like a shortcut, and only works to accomplish simple things, like strength enhancement, and Ren's disks. Manipulating your aura freely, is more like… like you are freely manipulating all of your thoughts and emotions at once, instead of just one."

That unloaded an entirely different line of question, so I was relieved when we finally arrived at the cafeteria, where they stopped talking about it, lest someone hears.

After I had gotten my meal, and was sat at the table, I was happily enjoying my steak when I overheard something that made me freeze.

"Did you hear about the Grimm Reaper?"

"Yeah I heard he is some kind of "superhero" or something. Whatever that means."

"What's so special about him? Does he have some sort of special Semblance?"

"Maybe? I don't know man I just read a headline."

I stared down at my steak. "Superhero"? Really? that was about as far from the truth as you could get. Turns out the first thing the girl I saved did was contact a news station and tell them everything that happened. Maybe I should have just knocked her out and took her to the hospital that way…

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Yang sat down on the table next to me, holding her plate, as her arms were no longer asleep. "Grimm Reaper huh? What a lame name, though I guess he did save a girl."

I looked at her in barely masked horror, "You've heard of it?"

I heard someone sit down on my other side, and turned to see Weiss with her plate, "Indeed. apparently, he has the extraordinary ability to leap through the air at incredible heights."

I nodded, trying my best to keep a straight face. "Yeah, I heard that too, must be some semblance huh? Right Yang?" I turned to find the blonde brawler staring at me with narrowed eyes. "Uhhh…"

"He also apparently wears a silver mask." Weiss said, causing me to turn around and see her also staring at me.

My eyes widened as I looked between them, "Wait you don't think it's me do you?"

Before they could answer, the others came back with their plates. Weiss and Yang eyeballed me for a few more moments before joining their conversation, allowing me to escape into the comfort of my food, as I dreaded the conversation to come.

I was just doing that, while vaguely listening to the others conversation (something about katanas) when I heard an unfamiliar voice behind me, "Hey!"

I turned around to see a girl with two guys on either side of her. I quickly figured that they were part of a team, as they appeared to be color coordinated in shades of brown and tan. The girl looked down at me behind a large pair of aviator glasses, that clashed strangely well with her beret. The guy on her left appeared to be blind, judging by the fact that his pupils were white and foggy, and the guy on her right was built like a goddamn truck. As they all looked down at me with unreadable expressions, I desperately searched my mind to figure out what I could have done to piss them off.

As I did so, I had to come up with something to say in the meantime, "Hello?"

"Who are you guys?" Ruby asked from across the table, as everyone was now looking at the newcomers.

The girl flicked her hair flamboyantly, "I'm Coco, this is Fox," she gestured to the guy with the burnt orange hair, "And this is Yatsuhashi. We're part of team CFVY."

I blinked, that name sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place It. "Okay… can I help you?"

The girl bent down low, bringing her face close to mine quickly, making me lean back in confusions. I looked around at my team for help, But Ren was too busy trying to get Nora to eat her broccoli, while Pyrrha just looked as confused as I. RWBY was equally unhelpful.

I turned back to face the girl, who was narrowing her eyes at me as her glasses rested on her nose, finally she spoke again, "Are you Royal Belladonna?"

I looked back at everyone questioningly, and saw them all shaking their heads. So of course, I turned back and answered, "That's me."

The girl stared at me for a few more seconds before suddenly smiling, "In that case we'd just like to say thanks!"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "You're welcome?"

"Uhhh, what are you thanking _him_ for?" Weiss spoke up, sounding more confused than me.

I shot her a glare, "Hey! I'm a good person, I'm sure I did something. But yeah," I turned back, "What _are_ you thinking me for?"

The guys chuckled quietly while Coco just smirked at me, "Well you did help out our teammate. You remember Velvet, don't you?"

My eyes widened, "Oh! You're her team! That makes sense, cause of the…"

They all looked at me, "Cause of the what?" Coco asked innocently.

"The Color coordination!" Nora stated bluntly.

"Wait," Fox spoke up, "What does she mean by that? I never agreed to that!"

Coco ignored him while Yatsuhashi patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, "Well we wouldn't be Team CFVY otherwise! But never mind that, we have to figure out how to thank you."

I held my hands up, "Oh don't worry about it. It wasn't that big a deal."

The three deadpanned as Coco said, "She told us you took on a whole team barehanded."

I felt my cheeks staring to burn, "Uh yeah… but to be fair they were terrible."

They chuckled at that before Coco looked serious, "Still. Most people see Velvet getting picked on around here and just assume she'd stop it herself if she wanted to. No one seems to get what would happen if she kicked the ass of every guy who made fun of her. That's why we want to encourage awareness by awarding the people like you. Now, what can we do for you? Buy you a drink, beat up a jerk, maybe set you up on a date with Velvet…"

My eyes widened at that last part, and I was about to explain that that would not be necessary, when someone beat me too it, "Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"

I looked in utter shock to see Weiss glaring at Coco, "I mean he only met her once."

Coco simply smirked back at her in shrugged, "It was just a hunch, I'm usually good with those, but if he says he doesn't want to…"

"I'm pretty sure he does." I now looked in utter confusion at Pyrrha, who was giving Coco a slight frown, which was her version of a death stare.

"Yeah and he's 15," Ruby piped up, "Isn't he too young to drink?"

Coco looked at the three girls with an amused look before raising an eyebrow at me, "I didn't realize they talked for you."

That's when I got a grip and stood up, reaching out hand to shake, "A drink sounds good I think. But I'm busy tonight, and I don't know when I'll be free next."

"What!" the consecutive voices of Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha rang out. I didn't dare look back as Coco wrote down her scroll number for me and handed it over, "Let us know when you are. And feel free to bring your, ah, friends, if you want. Nice coat by the way." 6

I nodded to them, and they turned to leave, prompting me to turn back to my seat, where I was met with the heat of a thousand suns, as several girls were glaring at me, "What?"

Yang, who had been surprisingly quiet during the incident opened her mouth to say something, but was beaten by Ruby, "Wait you _actually_ drink!? I thought the hangover thing was just a joke! Yang you told me I wasn't allowed to until I turned 17!"

Yang looked back at her in alarm, "You still aren't!"

"But Royal does it, why can't I?"

"Royal was literally raised on the streets—no offense—you weren't which means you have to wait!"

They continued to bicker back and forth, letting me turn to Weiss and Pyrrha, who were still frowning at me, "Okay seriously what's the problem?"

"There's no problem." Weiss stated, in a tone that stated that there very much was a problem, "You can go off and drink with random strangers all you want, it's not my problem."

I looked at her in disbelief, "Is that it? Look I don't know them very well but I think I got a pretty good judge of their character. Plus, they seemed fun."

"Did _they_ seem fun, or did _she_ seem fun?" Pyrrha asked with an edge to her voice that I'd never heard before, and really didn't like.

"They!" I insisted, but the two had already gotten up and stormed out of the room, followed shortly after by the bickering sisters, leaving me with Ren, Nora, and Blake. I slumped down in my seat and asked miserably, "Anyone else want to storm out?"

"Don't feel bad Roy," Blake spoke up, "I'm fairly certain you didn't mean any harm."

"I didn't!" I agreed, "I don't understand why they're acting like this…"

"Really?" Ren asked with an amused expression, causing Nora to look at him curiously. "I think it's fairly obvious that—" before he could finish, an irate Nora grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close to her crazed face.

"Is it obvious Ren? Is it?!" She then dropped him back into his seat and stormed angrily out of the cafeteria as well. Leaving Ren with a confused expression.

"What was that about?" He asked, causing Blake and I to roll our eyes in unison.

 **Later**

I rolled over the events of lunch in my head, over and over, as I made my way to Juniors. I didn't understand why Weiss acted the way she did. I mean I get why she was in a bad mood, she's always in a bad mood, but she went from kind of defending me to throwing passive aggressive remarks at me in the blink of an eye. And I didn't know where to even start with Pyrrha. That really came out of nowhere.

I shoved these thoughts aside as I entered the club, and spotted a familiar flash of blonde hair at the bar. I almost went to say hi, as well as ask what the hell he's thinking, joining Juniors gang when I got my answer in the form of two girls in black and white appearing on either side of him, grabbing his arms in a way that went way beyond professional interest. I still had more questions, but I decided to save them for a later date, as I wasn't really looking forward to seeing the girls again. I carefully made my way around the bar, and headed to Juniors office.

I entered the office to find him on the phone with something. When he saw me, he held up a finger before saying, "All right… all right… sounds good to me. I got to go now, but I'll call back tomorrow to talk about making it happen. By—and they hung up. Well hello, Mr. Grimm Reaper."

I rolled my eyes as I walked forward and slumped in the chair facing him, "I should have just knocked the girl out."

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah probably, I get why you didn't though. You and your conscience."

I raised an eyebrow this contemptuous look, "You have one too you know."

He smirked, "Yeah but only a select few know about it, that's why I'm the crime boss and you're the accidental superhero."

I scoffed, "I think I prefer "vigilante" as inaccurate as it is. Anyways, any word on the gang I beat up? Did they leave town?"

He sighed, "You had right when you reported three nights ago. Only one guy saw you, and he got replaced as leader."

"By who?" I asked, "Someone stronger."

He shrugged, "You'd think so. My contact couldn't find out any more than that. We also don't know where their new base is."

I frowned, "How? Don't you have people following them?"

He stood up angrily and went to look through the window, "They managed to give them the slip."

I looked at him in disbelief, "Okay… no offense but are your guys imbeciles? Cause that was the vibe I got from the men in that building."

He turned to glare at me, "Of course not! If that's the case, then whoever is leading them now has a few more brain cells than the last guy."

I sighed. "Okay well… Any new info on you know what?"

His glare softened. "Still nothing Roy. Sorry. But I've put a description out to all my informants, if we find the sniper, you'll be the first to know."

I thanked him, but it didn't get rid of my frown. I started walking to the window, when he asked, "Where are you going? Don't you want a drink or something?"

As I slid the window up, I answered, "You weren't there Junior. They were going to do awful things to that girl, if I wasn't there to stop it…I won't let it happen to anyone else."

He scoffed, "So what? you're going to search the entire city for them? You know that's crazy, right?"

I looked over him as I began forming my mask over my face, and took off my coat. I tossed it to him, "Keep it safe for me?"

He sighed and set it on his desk before slumping back in his chair. "Just don't do something stupid. You're too valuable an asset to lose."

I chuckled at him as I tucked my hair into my shirt and pulled out the purple scarf from my back pocket, "I love you too Junior."

He simply sneered at me as I jumped out the window, beginning the first of many long nights, and marking the start of a very bad life choice.

Third person POV 

Pyrrha made her bed angrily as Ren and Nora watched with concern. As she violently fluffed the pillow for the fifth time, Nora finally spoke up. "Hey Pyr… you okay pal?"

The redhead looked at them angrily, before pacing across the room "I just can't believe him! Not just the fact that he's out late _again_ , but the way he was ogling that girl at lunch…"

The two looked at each other then back at her, before Ren said, "I don't think he was looking at her like that."

Pyrrha snapped her eyes to him, "Really? well you weren't as close to him as I was, trust me, he was taking it all in. And why wouldn't he? The fancy clothes, the cool sunglasses, the perfect body…"

Nora took a deep breath before saying, "Pyrrha, I think you're just feeling a bit jealous."

The champion stopped her pacing and looked at her in shock, "Jealous? Why would you think…" She trailed off as she saw the meaningful looks on her teammates faces, then proceeded to flop down on her bed, burying her face in the pillow. "Is it that obvious?"

"To us at least." Ren stated, not noticing Nora's eye roll as she continued, "Pyrrha, a said fact about the world we live in, is that the men we share it with are as dense as bricks when it comes to stuff like this."

Ren frowned, "I don't know if— "

"BRICKS!" Nora practically shouted at him, causing him to cede the argument quickly. Nora then put on a sweet smile and went to sit next to Pyrrha, who was still hiding in her pillow. "Trust me Pyrrha, he wasn't "ogling" that girl. I don't think he's ever ogled anyone in his life."

Pyrrha sniffed, still not moving, but she asked in a muffled voice, "Then why did he agree to have drinks with them? He never asked us to come drink with him…"

Ren sighed at this, "A: He probably figured that Nora and alcohol is a bad combination."

Nora rolled her eyes, "It was _one_ fire."

Ren continued, "B: didn't you say before that you don't drink?"

She turned her head to look at Ren with a frown, "Yeah but— "

"And C:" Ren interrupted, "We never asked him either. That doesn't mean anything bad about how we feel about him or vice versa. He already trains with us, teaches us his aura techniques, he trusts us. Don't you think you should return the favor?"

At that Pyrrha had nothing more to say. She only let the tears fall down her face as she said, "I'm being such a brat…"

Ren's eyes widened, but Nora was already there, helping Pyrrha sit up to pull her into a hug, "No you're not sweetie, you're just in love. People in love do crazy things sometimes."

Pyrrha sniffed a bit as she calmed down, "I suppose… I still wish he would tell us what he's doing so late at night. Do you think he remembered the field trip tomorrow?"

Over in Team RWBY's room, things were not going as well. Ruby and Yang were in their bunks, each glaring at the wall as they couldn't look at each other, while Weiss was angrily doing her homework, which resulted in several broken pencils, only worsening her mood. Meanwhile, Blake just watched them all in disbelief, before finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Would you all just grow up?"

Everyone looked at her in shock, "Excuse me?" Yang asked.

"You're all acting ridiculous!" Blake explained "Yang, you're not Ruby's mother, you can't control everything she does!"

Yang looked like she was going to protest, but the Faunus had already turned to Ruby, "And you're a student at Beacon academy, which legally makes you an adult. If you want to try alcohol no one can legally stop you. So, don't blame your sister, just because you're too scared to try it alone."

The team leader looked down sadly, while Blake ended with Weiss, "If you are so concerned about what Royal does or who he hangs out with, you should try talking to him about it in instead of screaming at him for every little thing he does wrong."

The heiress looked at the Faunus in shock, "I do not— "

"Actually, you kind of do." Yang interrupted, causing Weiss to cross her arms and look away in anger, "And I think Blake's right. We are kind of acting crazy. And I can't control you Ruby, I'm sorry. I just… I need to get used to the idea of you growing up so fast."

Ruby nodded, "I'm sorry too. I don't know what I was thinking, Royal just mentioned how he drank, and I figured since he's my age…"

"Are you sure that's what it was," Yang asked with a smirk, "Or were you looking to impress him?"

"Oh, be quiet Yang," Weiss spoke up, a moment before Ruby was about to, "You know you like him too."

Yang's eyes widened and went to protest, but Ruby spoke first, "Yeah! You keep "teasing" him but it's really just you being all flirty and… wait a minute. Weiss? Does that mean..." she got her answer in the form of Weiss looking away with a slight blush.

"Okayyyy… So, our whole team is into the same guy?" Yang asked in a worried tone.

"Oh no." Blake held up her arms, "Don't drag me into this."

"Oh, come on," Yang drawled, "You can't say you don't feel anything for him. I mean he's— "

"Basically, my cousin." Blake finished for her, sending a gross thought into everyone's mind, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a shower."

There was a moment of silence after the bathroom door clothes, where no one knew what to say. It was broken however when Yang asked, "Want to talk about his butt?"

The both answered at once "NO YANG!"

 **The next day**

Royal, blissfully unaware of the events of last night, was working hard to suppress his yawns as Goodwitch led everyone through the red forest. He had been up until midnight looking for the criminals, inadvertently stopping a few crimes along the way, and had ended up finding nothing and having to call it a night.

If that weren't bad enough, things have been weird with Pyrrha and him all morning. She barely said anything, and wouldn't look him in the eye. On top of that, Team RWBY has been avoiding him entirely. He soon found himself desperately trying to think of what he did to piss them off.

However, he was drawn out of his thoughts as Goodwitch began her lecture about why they were there, how there were Grimm around, and that they should stick together, and avoid dying. Royal couldn't figure out why professor peach needed so many samples of tree sap, but he knew better than to argue, and followed his team into the forest.

Eventually they found a good spot, and started drawing the sap out of the wood. Ren and Nora were working together, sort of. Every time Ren would hand her a full jar, he'd look back a moment later to find it happy, and Nora looking happier. Pyrrha and Royal on the other hand were at their own trees, facing opposite ways to each other

Royal was having trouble focusing however, as he couldn't stop looking over at Pyrrha, who was facing away from him drawing sap into her own jar. After a few moments, he made up his mind and walked over to her.

Pyrrha tensed up when he spoke behind her, "Pyrrha? Look, I won't pretend to know what I did to upset you, but I want to say sorry for… whatever it was. If I knew what I could do to fix it I would…" He sighed as Pyrrha stayed facing away from him, rubbing the back of his head, "Alright well… I guess I just wanted to say that."

Pyrrha hadn't responded because she was too busy blushing up a storm, and trying to think of what to say. When she heard him turn to leave however, she quickly stood up and turned to stop him "Roy wait I—" however what she saw seemed to slow down time.

Royal's face was inches away from hers, his deep purple eyes looking directly into hers. For a moment, Pyrrha thought he was coming in to kiss her. it seemed a bit forward, and out of the blue, but she was oddly okay with that, and began to purse her lips to meet his.

Then he shoved her to the ground.

She landed on the ground with a huff and looked back to ask him why he did that, only to see his shirt, armor, coat, everything, soaked in red sap, and broken pieces of a jar sitting on the ground.

Royal examined his coat in horror, before hearing a familiar snicker. He looked up to see Cardin and his team looking down at them, laughing their assess off.

Nora and Ren were now by his side, glaring up at the team as Pyrrha stood up to join them. Before anyone could say anything, Royal roared, "If this doesn't wash out YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

Instead of being intimidated, Cardin looked down at him with a smirk. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Strange, I was aiming for the know it all bitch, but I think I like that it hit you better. Now why don't you just shut up, and enjoy our little surprise."

Cardin then held up a cardboard box, with a W on it. Team RPRN was uncertain what a box would do, until he opened it, releasing a swarm of Rapier wasps.]

Royal's eyes widened at the pesky Grimm insects, "Are you crazy? Those stingers pierce straight through Aura! You're in just as much danger!"

Cardin shrugged, "True, but they also can't resist the smell of the red sap that comes from this very forest. The same sap that you seem to be covered in. Woops."

Right on cue, the swarm made a beeline **heh** __straight for Royal, who was suddenly wondering just what he had done to deserve some much bad luck recently. He started backing away, before glancing at his teammates, "Get away from me, their stings go straight through and hurt like a motherfucker. I'll try to lose them." He then turned and ran before they could say anything, followed shortly after by the swarm as team CRDL laughed hysterically.

Pyrrha watched her leader go with concern, before hearing Ren shout, "Go! We'll deal with the miscreants."

Nora drew her hammer with an evil grin, "We'll break _all_ their legs."

Pyrrha nodded to them and ran towards Royal, while CRDL took off into the woods with Ren and Nora in pursuit.

Royal was having a terrible time to say the least. he was trying his best to outrun the bees, hopping through the tree branches as fast as possible, but unlike regular insects, the rapier wasps were impossibly fast, and kept up with him easily. They soon surrounded began surrounding him, giving him tiny stings that cause enormous pain wherever they strike. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to keep going, but he soon found himself in so much pain, that he lost his footing and crashed to the ground, quickly becoming enshrouded in the wasps, being stung mercilessly.

Royal desperately tried slicing at them with his blades, only getting a few out of a dozen, before he eventually shouted, "Get off of me!"

To his immense surprise, the wasps actually listened all of them ceasing their attacks at once, leaving him panting on the ground as he struggled through the pain. After a moment of deep breaths, he managed to sit up, noticing the swarm just sort of sitting there, unsure of what to do. That is, until Pyrrha arrived.

Pyrrha had been desperately chasing after Royal, not nearly as fast as him but finding it easy enough to track the sounds of his cries of pain. She arrived just in time to see him on the ground, covering in small sting marks. That's when she noticed the swarm heading straight for her face.

They were moving too fast for either her or Royal to do anything about, but as they began surrounding her face, Royal shouted, "STOP!"

Again, the creatures obeyed, ceasing their attack on the redhead's face after only one sting on her lip. Pyrrha was frozen, looking at the creatures hovering in the air in shock. That's when the pain started.

She cried out, clutching her mouth in agony, momentarily forgetting the wasps that remained still where they were. As tears began to fall she was too busy trying to get over the pain, that she didn't notice Royal quickly approaching her. She did notice however, when he pulled her hands way and pressed his mouth against hers.

Now she was really frozen. She stood completely straight as she watched her leaders closed eyes centimeters way from hers. In a moment, all the pain was gone. In a word, she would describe the sensation as magical, as his lips were unexpectedly soft against hers.

She was just about to close her eyes and enjoy it, when he pulled away and spit on the ground.

She felt her heart sink as she saw a yellowish greenish liquid come out of his mouth; the rapier wasp venom. That's why the pain faded away, he was sucking the venom out of the sting on her lip.

She felt her cheeks burn brightly, and barely managed to look up and see Royal's doing the same as apologized, "I'm sorry! I would have warned you but there's a limited time before the venom spreads to far to remove. Do you feel better?"

She nodded numbly, before shaking her embarrassment away as she noticed the stings covering him, "What about you? you're covered in them!"

He then winced, as if just noticing the pain, before losing his footing and falling to his knees. Pyrrha rushed to catch him, but he waved her away, "It's alright. I've walked into a swarm of these before, when I was a kid. The pain wears off after a few hours."

Pyrrha was frowned skeptically, before suddenly going red again, "I could… you know… try to suck the— "

"No!" He shouted before reigning himself in, "Sorry, no. They've already spread too far to be sucked out, I'll just have to bear with it."

Pyrrha was saddened by that, (for more reasons than one) but then turned to the wasps, still hovering where she left them. "Uhhh, how did you do _that_?"

Royal looked at the swarm as well, "I have… no idea. I just shouted desperately and it worked."

He then went to stand up, causing Pyrrha to rush to support him, "Has that ever happened before?"

He shook his head, "I know I was shouting stuff the last time, and nothing happened then. I've shouted a lot of things when fighting Grimm, but they never listened."

Pyrrha looked at him curiously, "Maybe it's a new part of your Semblance. Something that developed later than the other things."

Royal kept staring at the wasps, "Maybe…" He then took out Spartan and Reaper and started cutting them all down while they just stayed still, waiting for further orders.

Once he was finished, he shook his head in confusion, "Weird… Oh well, I doubt we'll get an answer today. Where are Ren and Nora?"

Pyrrha suddenly looked furious, "They went to chase those bastards."

He raised an eyebrow, "Wow, another curse word."

Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, "I'm sorry! It just slipped out!"

Royal shook his head as they began walking through the forest, with Pyrrha under his arm supporting him, "Not complaining. Some people say it's wrong, I say it is an easy way to convey passion. I just don't hear you doing it very often."

Pyrrha nodded thoughtfully but didn't say anything. Royal found himself gritting his teeth again as the pain flowed through him in waves. Pyrrha noticed this, "Are you alright."

He nodded, "I will be. Though I didn't know that the wasps went crazy about this sap. Makes me wonder what all the fuss is about." He then ran his finger along his chest plate, collecting some on his finger, before bringing it to his mouth to taste.

That's when things got really weird.

 **Chapter 10!**

 **So the next chapter may come around Saturday, cause tomorrow is my high school graduation, so I'll probably take the day off from writing. Or I might not, we'll see.**


	11. Chapter 11

Royal POV

I groaned as I struggled to open my eyes. My body felt like it was burning, and a terrible pounding pulsed through my skull, as I opened my eyes to see Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha looked down at me with weird looks on their faces. It seemed to be a mix between dread and amusement, though it was mostly dread on Pyrrha's part.

I blinked at them before clutching my head in pain. "What happened?" I looked around to see that we were still somewhere in Forever Fall, though none of our other classmates were in sight. "Where are we?"

"Don't you remember?" Pyrrha asked. I noticed that she was a bit farther away from me than Ren and Nora. I shook my head at her, causing her to narrow her eyes "Really?"

I looked at them in confusion, "Really. The last thing I remember is the wasps… that explains why my body hurts so much." I examined the dozens of sting marks covering my body, "And I tried some of the sap as we were walking back… That's all."

I then looked up to see mixed reactions from my teammates. Ren looked thoughtful, Pyrrha looked somewhat relieved, and Nora looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh. I began to feel a sense of dread drape itself over all the pain, "Guys, what happened? Did I faint."

Nora snorted, "You wish."

"If he doesn't remember it, then maybe we should just let it go and— "

"Are you insane?" Nora exclaimed, "We need to explore this _extensively_!"

"Guys!" I shouted as I struggled to stand, "What _happened_?"

They all seemed to take a minute to consider, before Ren spoke up, "First why don't you sit down and brace yourself before we explain."

"Screw that! I can do better!" Nora grinned as she pulled out her scroll, "I took a video."

Pyrrha and Ren's eyes widened, but before they could say anything, I already took the phone from Nora and pressed play. I wish to the Brothers that I hadn't.

It started with a view of Pyrrha leading me through the woods, her face red, and looking very uncomfortable. The reason for this was that I was leaning way too much on her, running my hands over places that they definitely should not be, and groaning, "Come onnnn Pyr-Pyr, I'll be quick."

She slapped my hand away from her breasts and shot me a glare, "I said no Royal, now watch where you're touching."

I groaned unnecessarily loudly before suddenly breaking away from Pyrrha and looking at the cameral, or rather, at who was holding it. Unfortunately, this revealed a rather outstanding bulge below the waist, "Hey Nora… you've got some 'hic' tice nitties there… you maybe want some fuck?"

I stared at the screen in absolutely horror, as my seemingly intoxicated and overly horny self approached Nora unsteadily. I was relieved when the camerawoman had enough and hit me across the face with her hammer, lightly of course, as I was still alive. I went down like a rock, right along with my pride and dignity.

When the video stopped, I was frozen for a moment, before slowly turning my head to look at Pyrrha, who was avoiding eye contact with me, and trying her best to not look as uncomfortable as we all felt. I then looked at Nora, who was laughing sympathetically, somehow, and finally at Ren, who was looking at me with pure pity.

I sighed, "Well, this is happening." Their eyes widened as I drew Reaper and lifted my shirt, prepared to punish myself accordingly for bringing such dishonor to myself, and my father. However, Nora quickly grabbed my hand, stopping me. "Whoa there Roy! That's a bit extreme don't you think?"

"A bit extreme?" Pyrrha shouted. I turned to see her much closer and panicking, "What are you thinking?"

Ren continued the game of yell at Royal, "No matter how embarrassed you may be, suicide is not the answer!"

I blinked, "Suicide? Oh! Oh sorry, no that's not what I was doing."

They all breathed a collective sigh of relief, before Ren asked, "Well then what were you doing?"

I shrugged, "I was going to carve the word "Lecher" into my gut. It's my only option."

At that, Nora yanked Reaper out of my hand, while Pyrrha grabbed Spartan and backed away, before shouting, "How is that your "only option"?"

I looked at her, trying hard to fight the blush on my face, "Uh you saw the video. Heck you were there. I may not remember it but that kind of behavior is unacceptable. If it's written in my flesh however, I'll always remember it."

"Have you considered a permanent marker instead?" Nora asked while Ren stepped forward, "Royal relax, I don't think you were in your right mind."

I looked at him curiously "What? why?"

"You started acting that way right after you ate the sap." Pyrrha explained. "Ren thinks… well…" her cheeks started to grow red again, "I'll let him explain."

Ren nodded to her before looking back at me, "Rapier wasps, like many other Grimm are attracted to the Red Sap for a reason: Grimm are creatures of hate and violence, if left to their own devices, they would never take the time to… reproduce. However, the sap attracts them, and when they taste it they go into… you could say heat, and reproduce then."

I stared at him in disbelief, "So it's like an Aphrodisiac for Grimm?" He nodded, "Then why haven't we started chopping the trees down? Wouldn't that halt the increase of Grimm population?"

It was Ren's turn to blink, "I suppose it would in theory… but such a project would require a a lot of funding, probably cooperation between all four kingdoms…"

I sighed, "Yeah I get it. Anyways, let me guess, since the sap has that effect on Grimm, and I'm kind of part Grimm…"

"We think that's why you… uh… went into— "

"We get it," I stopped Ren. "Gods… Still though, I really sorry about what happened, Pyrrha, and you too Nora."

Pyrrha sighed, "I forgive you Roy, just don't go anywhere near that sap again."

I nodded eagerly until I heard Nora snicker, "I don't know, it lead to some pretty golden footage."

I looked at her intently, "Nora delete that."

She pretended to consider it for a moment, before answering, "Nope! I think I'll show it to Yang later."

I felt my stomach twist, "No. Nora I beg you, anyone but her."

Nora smirked, "Ruby then?"

"NO!" We all shouted at her at once.

Nora giggled and started into the woods, "Fine. We can negotiate it on the way back to the group."

I sighed and went to follow. Pyrrha walked towards me, "Are you alright to walk on your own?"

In nodded, "Yeah, the pain is starting to die down." That was a lie, the pain wouldn't die down for another couple hours, but I was starting to get better at ignoring it, having felt worse, and I really didn't think Pyrrha would be comfortably being so close to me after what just happened.

As we started through the forest, I suddenly had a thought, "What happened with Cardin?"

Ren and Nora suddenly looked irritated, "They got way," Nora sighed, "But it's okay. There'll be other leg breaking opportunities."

I chuckled, "Well thanks for trying. I'm kind of glad they got away though." My teammates all looked at me in disbelief, before I finished with, "It will be way more satisfying to break them myself."

We soon found our way back to the main group, which was just about to board the Bullhead to leave, only waiting for us to return. Apparently, Nora's form of Negotiating was running ahead where I couldn't talk to her, and I couldn't catch up in my current state.

I spotted team RWBY near the front, looking a bit worried as they waited for us, when they saw us, they all rushed forward excitedly, until they saw me that is."

Ruby was the first to get over her shock and rush towards me as I hobbled forward. She looked like she wanted to touch me, but couldn't decide where, so instead ended up just lightly poking all over my chest and face before asking, "What happened?"

I shrugged, "Rapier wasps."

"What?!" Blake and Weiss exclaimed, while Ruby and Yang looked confused.

"What are those?" Yang asked

"One sting from a Rapier wasp causes incredible pain wherever you're stung…" Weiss as she stared at me in horror.

"How are you still standing?" Blake asked.

I waved them off, "It's really not that bad." I was screaming internally at the arm motion.

"Yeah he's fine," Nora stated, "More importantly, Yang come watch this video I— "

"On second thought, I'm in incredible pain!" I shouted desperately, letting myself fall forward. Somehow Ruby managed to catch me, struggling to hold me up until Yang came to help her. I was glad that the distraction worked, but now that I was sandwiched between the two of them as they helped me walk forward, I remembered that the majority of team RWBY were upset at me for some reason.

"So… is everything okay with you guys?" I asked, causing them to look at me curiously as we made our way towards the Bullhead, "I don't really know what happened yesterday, but if it was something I did, I'm sorry."

I suddenly found myself falling forward as the support I had been using suddenly disappeared. I groaned on the ground before looking up to see Weiss, Ruby, and Yang all rubbing the back of their heads with an embarrassed look on their faces in unison. It was creepy to say the least. Thankfully Blake just rolled her eyes and helped me up, before Ruby and Yang opened their eyes and realized what happened.

"Oh sorry!" Ruby said frantically, "I—we—I mean…" she hung her head sadly before saying, "Sorry."

Yang chuckled nervously and said, "Yeah about yesterday we were just a bit irritable because…"

"It was our time of the month!" Weiss blurted out, causing everyone to look at her in shock.

After a moment however, Yang looked back at me with a strangely tense smile, "Yes that. You know us women. We just lose our minds every once in a while."

I was a bit confused as to why they were being so weird about it, but decided not to push the subject, "Oh! Sorry I didn't realize… is there anything I can do? Or are you feeling better now?"

"We're fine now." Weiss stated curtly, though not looking me in the eye.

"Besides, we're not the ones covered in Wasp stings!" Ruby exclaimed, "How are you dealing with the pain?"

I considered it for a moment before answering, "I'm just focusing on anything else."

"So we should probably stop bringing it up." Blake concluded loudly and meaningfully, as we entered the Bullhead. I smiled at her thankfully, before looking across the bullhead to see CRDL having a great time pointing and laughing at me. I felt my lip curl up in a snarl.

The others saw them too and adopted similar looks. I let go of Ruby and Yang, waving them off when they tried to help me and walked towards the team, resting my hands on my blades, ready to beat the shit out of them, stings or not. Unfortunately, a certain Goodbitch stepped in my way with her usual cold look reserved only for me. "No sparring in the Bullhead.

I looked at her in annoyance, "Oh don't worry, it won't be much of a spar, more of an ass kicking, now if you'll excuse me…" I tried to walk past her, only to find her riding crop pressed against my chest.

"You can save that for combat class." She stated.

I turned fully to her, "Do you see my face by any chance? Notice the sting marks all over me? What do you think did that huh?"

She shrugged lazily, "Wasps I would assume."

I growled back, "Rapier wasps that they set at me!"

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And do you have any evidence to support that claim?"

"Professor he's telling the truth," Pyrrha stepped forward, "Cardin threw a jar of sap at him to attract the wasps. In fact, he was aiming for me, and I might have suffered the same fate if Royal hadn't pushed me out of the way." She was facing away from me so I wasn't sure, but it seemed like that last part had a touch of regret in it.

Goodwitch wasn't moved however, "That is still not evidence."

"Oh, come on!" Nora exclaimed, "Renny and I saw it too, that's four eye witnesses and you're going to just ignore it?"

Goodwitch frowned at her, "I am not ignoring it. I'm simply asking where the evidence is."

I glared at her before scoffing and walking around her, "Forget it. I was planning on dealing with them myself anyways."

CRDL saw me approaching and were beginning to let up with their laughter, until I found myself lifted into the air by an invisible force, and held still.

I struggled to move while all the other teams looked at me in confusion. They ceased their whispering however when Goodwitch's heels clicked behind me, until she came to stand in front of me. I simply stared at her defiantly, as her telekinetic power was keeping my mouth shut.

She leaned in close and whispered, "You may think you're special because of your "semblance", but to me: you're just a monster. One the Headmaster thinks has some sort of potential. However, don't think that because he's letting you live, that you can just do whatever you please. Understand?"

I could only glare at her until she seemed satisfied "Good. Now be a good monster for the rest of the trip, or you will lose your dinner privileges for the night." She let go of me, sending me crashing to the floor, causing new waves of pain to flow through me, before she turned and clicked away towards the cockpit.

As I focused on quelling the pain, I felt several pairs of hands on my back. I looked up to find Pyrrha kneeling next to me with worry, while the others looked down at me. I could tell they all wanted to know what Goodwitch said, but I made it clear that I didn't want to talk about it by grunting, "Can you help me to my seat."

Pyrrha quickly complied and brought me to an empty space on the benches jutting out of the cabin walls. The others followed us and took their seat around us, Ren and Nora next to Pyrrha on my right, and Team RWBY on my left, with Blake sitting closest to me.

"You should see the nurse when we get back to Beacon," Blake broke the silence, "Even if the pain fades after a while, you don't want to be covered in those marks any longer than necessary."

I nodded in agreement, before leaning my head back against the wall and resting my eyes as the bullhead took off. I could vaguely hear the excited whispering from around the cabin, no doubt the other teams wondering what caused such a display. I could also hear team CRDL still snickering at their good luck.

I opened my eyes however when Ruby asked, "So Cardin was the one who through the jar?"

I nodded silently while Pyrrha explained, "Apparently I hurt his feelings with my comments during history class, and his solution was to assault me with the Wasps. He would have succeeded too… if Roy hadn't pushed me out of the way first."

"Unbelievable." Weiss growled, "We should sue them!"

"Screw that!" Yang exclaimed, "We can teach them a lesson ourselves!"

"Yeah!" Nora agreed, "We'll— "

"Break their legs?" Blake guessed, "Judging by Glynda's reaction, that won't end well for us."

"Yeah what was that about?" Ruby asked, "I mean, there wasn't any evidence, but she should know that we wouldn't make something like this up right?"

"She knows what happened," I spoke up as I stared straight forward, "She just doesn't care, because it happened to me."

Ruby was silent for a moment before asking, "Why?"

I looked over at her to see her face filled with confusion, as well as sadness. I sighed and replied, "I'm… not sure. Apparently, she thinks of me as "nothing more than a monster"."

"That's ridiculous!" Pyrrha practically shouted, "You've shown on many occasions that you're more than that!"

I nodde , "I agree. I think there's something more to it than that, I just can't figure out what."

 **Later, back at Beacon**

I walked slowly back to my dorm after visiting the nurse's office. I ended up getting a bottle of salve to apply to my skin daily. The pain had long since faded away, but the sting marks were still there, and very itchy. Normally Aura would heal it in a matter of hours, but another annoying effect of the Wasp venom was to leave lasting marks, that Aura can't heal. It was bullshit science, and no matter how much I researched it, I couldn't get a satisfying explanation, but I knew for a fact that it was true.

I arrived back at my dorm room to find Nora and Ren nowhere to be found, however that wasn't the most striking feature. The on the bed stand was a wide array of scented candles, my bed looked to be redone with expensive blankets and pillows, and to top it off, there was soothing music coming from a scroll on the dresser.

I walked in slowly, unsure what was going on, but as I did so, Pyrrha walked out of the bathroom in her pajama's, before she noticed me standing there, "Royal! You're back already?"

I numbly held up the save for her to see, "There wasn't much else she could do… what is all this?"

She looked a bit sheepish, as she responded, "It… it was supposed to be a surprise. You had such a wretched day, I thought I should do something to try to make it better. I had Weiss and Yang helped with the candles and blankets, Ren and Nora went to get you some tea, Ruby set up the music, and I was about to draw you a bath to relax in before you went to bed."

I stared at her in shock, "Pyrrha you didn't have to do all of this…"

She looked away, "I just said I had help, I didn't really— "

I rolled my eyes, as I walked towards her and pulled her into a hug, she was stiff for a moment before relaxing into it, "No offense to the others, but none of them are as thoughtful as you towards others. This was your idea, and you made it happen. Thank you."

She was silent as I held her a few more moment. I soon pulled back however and said, "Seriously though, the bath would have been enough, you didn't have to go this far."

She smiled embarrassedly, "I suppose not… but it was kind of fun to set up together… do you like it?"

I nodded as I looked around, "Yeah, it's very—achoo!"

I turned away as I felt another sneeze coming, and to hide my look of frustration at what was causing it as she asked, "Are you alright?"

I waved her off as I continued to sneeze, "Yeah it's—achoo—just allergies—achoo –nothing serious!"

Pyrrha didn't seem convinced, "You've never sneezed like that before… what's going on Roy?"

I sighed as I rubbed my nose, "I think –achoo—since my sense of smell is a lot—achoo—stronger than most people, this –achoo—many scented candles is messing with me…"

The sneezing didn't seem to want to stop, but after a few moments of silence, I had to cover my nose and look back at Pyrrha. My eyes widened as I saw tears falling down hers.

I walked towards her and reached out a hand towards her, "Hey you didn't know, it's not your— "

She pulled away from me, "I know it's not my fault! I couldn't possibly have known that because you never talk to me about anything!"

I blinked, "Uhhh…"

"You only spend as much time with me as you do everyone else!" Pyrrha exclaimed, "I'm you're partner! You're supposed to confide in me about everything like what's troubling you, what keeps you up at night, or better yet where the hell you go every night!"

I winced, "Is that what this is about?"

She stared at me angrily with her arms crossed, "Maybe! Okay yes! The first time you said it was personal, but you seem to do it every night now! If it really is something you don't feel comfortable sharing, I get it, but at least give me some idea what you're doing so I know that you're safe?"

There was an awkward silence in the room as I considered what to say to that. I wanted to tell her what I was doing. I had been putting it off for far too long, fearing what would happen when they found out that not only am I part Grimm, but I used to and temporarily am still working for criminals. Now however, I couldn't bring myself to lie to her anymore.

I took a deep breath, and said, "Pyrrha, I— "

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sing song voice of a certain blonde, "Oh Royyyalll!"

I looked at the doorway to see a horrific sight. Yang was grinning at me mischievously while also draping herself against the doorframe suggestively, "You want some fuck?"

I could feel the heat radiating off of both Pyrrha and my cheeks as I stammered, "E-excuse me?"

Yang then broke down into laughter, as Nora peaked around the corner, waving her Scroll in the air victoriously. I then remembered my moronic proposition to Nora and felt the blood drain from my face, "Who else have you shown that too?"

Nora smiled innocently, "Just Yang."

I groaned loudly, "Nora, please just tell me the truth."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine I showed the whole Team."

I froze, "The _whole_ team?"

Yang suddenly stopped laughing and said, "Yeah Ruby was a bit uncertain at first so I had to explain it to her that there was not a weirdly shaped knife in your pants—not bad by the way. However, I will have to bill you for the therapy it's going to take to fix that."

I sighed, "Whatever, can you guys just give us a minute? We're kind of in the middle of something here."

Yang then seemed to notice the redness of Pyrrha's eyes, as did Nora, who carefully closed the door while mouthing "sorry"

Once the door was closed I turned back to Pyrrha and started again, only to be interrupted by my phone going off signaling that I'm getting a call.

I tried to ignore it but immediately knew that wasn't going to work, "Hold on let me turn it off."

Pyrrha sighed, "Just answer it."

I pulled out the scroll and opened it to see that the caller was Junior himself. As much as I knew I would hate myself for it, I knew he wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important.

I looked at Pyrrha apologetically, "Just give me five minutes."

She shrugged and went to sit on her bed, crossing her arms in irritation. I sighed and answered the scroll, "What?"

"Wow, someone's in a bad mood." Junior spoke over the line.

"I'm in the middle of something important, do you have something for me, or are you just calling to annoy me?"

I heard chuckling, "Alright geeze. Look, my guy just told me that the next gang has just met with the third one you were going to take out. I need you to go there and figure out what they're doing, and if possible, take them both out at once."

I narrowed my eyes and spoke a little quieter, "Seriously? Now?"

"Yes now, we don't know how long they'll be in the same place, so you need to go now."

I looked over at Pyrrha, who was looking at me expectantly, "Now is literally the worst time man."

"I've never known you to back out on a deal Roy. If you don't do this, things with blondie…"

I growled under my breath, "Fine. Text me the location."

I hung up the scroll before looking back to Pyrrha, with no idea what I should say. By the look on her face however, there was only one thing I could say: "I'm sorry. I have to go now, but I promise I'll explain when I get back!"

She glared at me, "Whatever. Just leave."

I could only sigh as she went to turn the music off, and began blowing out the candles, acting like I had ceased to exist. I turned and opened the door, revealing Yang standing next to Nora as they once again watched the video of me spazzing out on the sap.

I rolled my eyes and walked past them, towards the armory, but of course they noticed me. "Hey, where are you going?" Nora asked.

"Out." I stated simply without looking back.

"Seriously?" Yang called after me, "After all we set up for you?"

"Yeah, and you're really going to go out like _that_?" Nora sked in disbelief, meaning the sting marks covering my face hands and body parts not covered by my coat and chest plate.

"It's important." I said as I neared the end of the hall.

"What could be so important that you have to diss your friends like this?" Yang asked, "Do you realize how hard it was to gather all those candles by the time you got back from the nurse? Well? Don't ignore me. What's so important?"

I froze as I was about to turn the corner, and looked back at her, "A job."

With that I left, confident by the guilty look on her face that she understood. As I headed to change at the armory, I felt my scroll ring, and pulled it out to see the details texted to me. this time it was an abandoned warehouse in Vales industrial district.

I left my coat and scroll in my locker, and got my kunai knife. I checked it to make sure I had loaded another ice dust tube, before making my way off campus and running towards Vale. I tucked my hair in and pulled out the scarf on the way, before finally forming my skull mask around my head.

It took me almost thirty minutes to make it to the warehouse, as I had to be careful in Vale not to be seen. The whole way there however, I was running through what I was going to say to Pyrrha later.

That was partly why I didn't notice anything peculiar about the cars surrounding the warehouse, as I infiltrated form the roof. It was also why I didn't wise up when I couldn't see anyone in the warehouse. I could smell them for sure, but the majority of the warehouse seemed barren of any signs of life.

Eventually I ended up walking out in the open, wondering if what I was smelling was just very strong residual stink. However as reached the center, I was in for a rude awakening.

Four walls erupted out of the floor around me, having been disguised perfectly with the rest of the ground. Instinctually I jumped up with an aura enhancement, looking to escape the trap before it finished springing. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the top part of the cage came from the top, slamming down on my head and smacking my back into the cage, where I lay dazed for a moment. If not for my mask it probably would have taken out a good majority of my Aura, instead of just a small chunk.

I got to my feet unsteadily, just in time to see my captors emerge from the shadows. For a moment, I thought my head was a bit more fucked up than I thought, but soon I realized that this was in fact the first gang I went against. And at the front was the same leader, grinning at me with crooked teeth, "Hey there."

I walked towards him in the cage, I felt my knife in my pouch but quickly realized that it would be useless. I only had one shot of the ice explosion, and even if I took them down with the aura sting technique, I would only take out one before they opened fire with their weapons. "You? How did…"

The man chuckled, "How did I fool Juniors informant?" I froze at that, "That's right I know who you work for. See my semblance isn't very practical, it's like a type of hypnosis, but it doesn't work on someone far away, like when we first met."

I blinked, before glaring at him in realization, "You were going to use it on that girl."

He smirked, "Wouldn't be the first time. Don't look at me like that, when they're under my spell they enjoy doing whatever I tell them to, no matter how painful it may be."

I shot forward, grabbing the bars as I stared straight at him. I smirked as he flinched back, but it didn't last long. "Now now, Mr. "Reaper" that's no way to act. As soon as I read that story in the news, I grew curious. Turns out, we're not the first gang you've hit."

I said nothing as he continued, "There's talk all over town from the legally dubious, about a man wearing a silver mask. Apparently, he had taken out just about every gang in town, save for Junior's. My boys soon found his little informant, and brought him to me, so I could work my magic. I had him feeding your boss fake information until we were ready to take you down, and here we are."

He smiled triumphantly a me, while I stared at him for a few moments, before saying, "Bullshit."

He sneered, "Excuse me?"

I shook my head, "There's no excuse for you, and there's no way you pulled this all off by yourself, you're not smart enough, I can tell just by looking at you. Also, there's no way you have the resources to set up a trap like this."

He grumbled under his breath as he glared at me, "I might have had a little help, but that hardly matters now. Soon, you'll be my puppet instead of Juniors."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And how will you do that? You really think you can get close to me that easily?"

He smiled and stepped backwards, "Maybe not now, but once you have no Aura…"

My eye's widened as his subordinates all pulled out weapons and pointed them at me. I felt myself begin to sweat, "Uh… are you sure you weren't done talking? Maybe brag about how easily you captured me?"

The leader pulled out a cigarette, lighting it before he ordered, "Open fire."

I ducked down as the onslaught began, but it did me no favors. I had nowhere to run, no cover to hide behind. I gritted my teeth as the shots bounced off my aura, which was quickly running out. I tried jumping up to push the top of the cage off, but it was held shut by either some sort of magnet, or something holding it down. either way it was a bust and I was stuck, as the thugs continued to pepper me with their pistols and submachine guns.

I realized my aura was going to be gone in a few seconds. In my desperation, I started growing my silver plates all over my body underneath my clothes, but they were too Aura then broke, and I felt new bursts of pain all over my body. My chest plate protected my most vital parts, and I even felt a few bounce off my mask. However, I had gunshot wounds in my right shoulder, left bicep, right kneecap, and left shin. I was basically rendered useless.

As I laid there, groaning in a growing pool of my blood, I saw the top of the cage lift back up, and heard the walls go back down into the floor. In my pain induced daze, I found myself seriously wondering who they knew who could make such an expensive contraption in so little time. I was broken out of my daze however, as two of the guys lifted me up by the shoulders, and threw me in a chair another one brought. I groaned as my limbs dangled around me. the leader then walked up to me. He smiled down, giving me a good look at his face. He had black hair cut into a mullet, as well as orange eyes framed by a rough face. He snapped his fingers, "Get the mask off."

One of the thugs tried to pull my "mask" off, but soon found it tougher than he thought, mostly because it was attached to my face. "It won't come off boss, It's like he superglued it on there."

The leader rolled his eyes, while in the background, I noticed the goons setting up a camera, "What's with that?"

That elicited another smile, "I'm so glad you asked, see before I make you my new attack dog, me and the boys are going to beat the shit out of you live, for the whole world to see."

I felt my heart sink at that. If I was being broadcasted right now, that meant using Grimm powers would be a bad idea. but if things got too crazy I might not have a choice… this was turning into a really sucky day.

It just got worse as the leader leaned in close to me, "I was hoping to reveal your identity as well, but it seems you're going to be stubborn about that. That's fine, I'll just make a name up for you, and carve it into your torso." He then grabbed the hem of my shirt and lifted it up, revealing my sting covered abdominals.

Upon seeing this, the thugs all had mixed reactions, some laughed, while others hissed in near pity. The leader however smiled even wider, "Well I think I have an idea why you wear that mask now. If your skin is like that all over, you're probably doing us a favor keeping it covered up!"

His subordinates burst into laughter at that, while he pulled out a wicked looking knife. "Now, let's get started, shall we? I'm thinking: Lester."

I felt my heart speed up as he leaned in, and quickly blurted out, "You know, if you're going to use me as an "attack dog", wouldn't crippling me be counterintuitive?"

As he thought about this, one of the thugs muttered, "He has a point…"

The leader then pulled out a gun and shot the man in the face, causing me and everyone else to wince, "Anyone else have any comments?"

There was a consensus of no, leaving the leader to turn back to me, "Now, let's get started, shall we Lester?"

 **CH 11**

 **You know I wouldn't usually admit this, but I wasn't really planning on this being a cliffhanger. Oh well. The next chapter will probably be the last until after I've written for my other stories.**


	12. Chapter 12

Royal POV 

I screamed in agony once again as Toby ran his knife down my chest. Toby was the leader of the thugs I was currently being held captive by. I don't know if that was his name, but it was what I decided to call him that to amuse myself. Toby sounded like a cute little puppy, as opposed to the smelly lunatic using my skin as an artistic outlet for all his aggression.

He had carved the name Lester into my stomach, just like he said he would, but didn't seem content to stop there, and has been carving happily into my now bare chest for almost a half hour now. My shirt was cut down the middle, which I was grateful for, as it kept my hair still hidden, but I wasn't sure how long that would last.

The only reason I hadn't made any definitive moves to escape, was the camera pointed right at me. I still had my Reaper mask on, as they hadn't figured out how to get it off. One even tried shooting it out of frustration. I was just as surprised as them when the bullet was stopped by the mask, without the use of aura. The material was more powerful than I realized. The impact still gave me a dizzying headache however, and likely some brain damage.

I gritted my teeth as Toby drew a big, bloody smile on my chest, using my nipples as eyes. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of yelling again, but he was sure to take his time drawing it across, so I soon found myself arching my back as I screamed at the ceiling.

When he had finished it, I slumped back into the chair, my body drenched in a gross mix of blood and sweat. As much as I disliked what was happening now, I was more concerned about what he said he would do afterwards. Apparently, he had some sort of hypnotic semblance, that he was going to use to turn me into his own personal slave. It was also how he lured me into the trap in the first place, having brainwashed Juniors informant.

I could have escaped easily, the only thing stopping me were my limbs filled with bullet holes, and rendered useless. I had a possible backup plan for something like this, but it was ruined by the camera. If they were telling the truth, and I was currently being broadcasted live online, then I had to find some other way.

That was a problem however, as I had no aura remaining, no way to move my limbs or manipulate anything at all. I briefly considered biting and shimmying my way out, but decided there were too many holes in it.

My thoughts were interrupted as Toby scratched his face with the knife, not caring as he got my blood on his face, which was just gross to be honest, "What to do next?"

I rolled my eyes, "If you're taking suggestions, how about, "Fuck you Toby?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Who's Toby?"

"Oh right, that's just what I've been calling you in my head. Sorry I should have clarified."

His mouth made an O shape, before it turned into a snarl, "You just don't learn, do you?"

I chuckled slightly, while also wincing at the pain it caused, "I think you're self-projecting Toby. Just because you couldn't learn to do something meaningful with your life, you become a criminal? That's a weak move dude."

He glowered down at me before suddenly smiling once again, "You know what? I think I just found a new place to cut. "

I made sure to hide my nervousness as I asked, "Oh? And where is that?"

To answer, moved the tip of the knife up so it was inches away from my exposed eye. I gulped. To be honest I could close up the eye sockets with a thought, but there was still the issue of the camera. After a second I decided to wait till the last minute, so that his body was blocking the camera's view. It might see the change afterwards, but it would hardly be proof of how I did it.

However, as we both readied ourselves for what was to come next, someone put a stop to both of our plans, starting with the sound of glass shattering. Before I realized what was happening, Toby screamed in pain, dropping the knife as he held his hand. All of the gang members looked around furiously, but no more shots followed. Instead, something a lot scarier for them.

When I entered the building, I made sure to carefully carving out an entrance in the ceiling glass, before removing it using a special aura technique I created, that allows me to press my hands against the glass, before expelling the air and creating a vacuumed space between my hand and the glass, thus allowing me to lift the cut out glass with no problem. This was not Yang's style.

The brawler crashed down through the ceiling windows, screaming loudly and garnering the attention of everyone in the room as she cratered the floor underneath her as she landed in a crouching positon. She looked up at us to reveal her iris' already red. As Nora and Pyrrha dropped down behind her however, she spotted me in my current state. That got her hair flaming.

I spotted Weiss taking a more direct route, running through the warehouse doors, using her glyphs to propel her faster. I also noticed Blake and Ren approaching the thugs through the shadows. I could only assume that Ruby was off in the distance, having sniped the knife out of Toby's hand.

I almost breathed a sigh of relief, as I stared at my saviors. The three heavy hitters in front however were staring at me in horror, not that I could blame them. I then noticed Pyrrha step forward with a furious look, and remembering her recent history of outspokenness, I decided to speak up before she potentially gave anything away. "Get the camera! It's broadcasting LIVE!"

Most of them were confused about this request at first, all except Nora, who nodded in determination. She shot forward with her hammer drawn and smashed the camera in one strike, the surrounding goons still too stunned to do anything about it.

Toby however, was not, "What are you doing? Get them!"

"But they're huntresses! We don't have aura!" A guy with a man bun claimed., only to get shot in the face by Toby.

"Which is why you should get in there before I kill every last one of you myself!"

That seemed to motivate them and got them charging at my friends with reluctant abandon. Of course, they would all get instantly defeated, but Toby didn't seem too concerned about that. Instead he was dragging me towards the other end of the warehouse. He seemed to be having trouble, as we weren't going very fast. "Come on you piece of shit! I don't care if all of your limbs don't work! Get moving!"

I decided to ignore the idiocy of that statement and instead close my eyes and focus. A body this broken would be useless for a long time. It was time to switch to a new one.

Third Person POV 

Ruby was slowly beginning to panic as she sped towards the warehouse. She had been set up on a rooftop a few buildings away from the warehouse, where she had a view of what was happening through the windows using her scope. The idea was to give her friends a heads up of what they were walking into before they went in, but it ended up just scarring her for life. The broken form of what she could only assume was Royal was bad enough, but there was also a dead body lying on the ground, with a bullet wound on his forehead. Overall, she was getting really queasy, until she saw the torturer level his knife with Royal's eye.

She shoved all other thoughts down and focused, taking ten seconds to aim, hold her breath, and fire at the hand holding the knife. Judging by the body, there was a good chance none of them had aura, and she wasn't ready to kill someone, no matter how bad they were.

As it happened, the man she shot did have aura, as the bullet didn't go through his hand. Ruby quickly shouted into her scroll, "One confirmed Aura user! Go now!"

She then began sprinting across the rooftops, using her semblance to get across the gaps quickly. She was vaguely aware of her friends answering back, but was too caught up with the image of Royal's body. The kind of pain he must be in was hard to think about, but she just couldn't stop. She only managed to get out of it when she reached the warehouse, and joined her friends in fighting the thugs.

Yang was relieved when she saw her sister arrive to the fight. As Pyrrha launched one of the thugs towards her to slam to the ground, she was busy worrying about how Ruby would handle what she saw. She almost started to wish that she never opened her mouth.

After Royal left, Nora had pestered her endlessly for what he meant by "a job". She was determined at first to keep Royal's secret, considering that what he was doing was for her, but then then the Lunatic went and told everyone on both teams that Yang knew what Roy was doing. Ruby, Blake, Ren and Nora were annoying enough, but it turned scary when Pyrrha asked. it was really less of a question and more of a demand, as she was doing so while holding her rifle and staring at her with deadly calm. The rifle wasn't pointed at her or anything, but Yang figured out the message behind it.

It was that point that Weiss spilled the beans, having reached her limit of annoyance. She didn't tell them everything, just that Royal was taking out some gangs for Junior, and how he was only doing it to get Yang out of trouble.

When she first heard this, Pyrrha became even more furious than before, at all parties involved. However, she soon realized that it was a thousand times better than what she was worried he was doing, and that he did have a valid justification, even if that justification was born of ridiculousness. She was still la bit miffed that he didn't tell her about it, but Weiss and Yang both claimed that he had his reasons for that, one that he wasn't comfortable sharing with anyone unless necessary.

Of course, when she learned all this she wasn't going to just sit back and let things be. Justified or not, her partner was going against a large group with no backup, so she was going to go help him, whether he liked it or not. Upon hearing this plan, the others decided to join her.

The only problem after that was finding out where the hell he went. After several attempts to call him on his scroll, they deduced that he had left it somewhere, or turned it off. The only lead they had was that he was heading towards the armory, so they went there first.

Weiss had approached the locker first, confident that she could guess Royal's password to get it, but after several failed attempts, she was moved aside so Nora could open it the old fashioned way: with excessive force.

She managed to actually rip the door off the locker using aura enhanced strength. Revealing that Royal had left both his coat and his scroll behind, not to mention his weapons

Since the scroll couldn't be opened via smashing, it was up to Ruby to hack into it. Her skill in this was surprising to all but Yang, who had grown used to her hacking her way into any scroll she could find before Tai finally gave her her own scroll. One she had it open, they went to the last text he received, and found the address for the job.

From then it was simple matter of taking a bullhead to Vale. While it normally wouldn't have gone as fast as it did, a generous donation from the Schnee family motivated the

That brings us to now. Over half the thugs were already defeated, as Nora and Yang plowed through men like wrecking balls, Ren and Blake picked men off from the shadows a few at a time, and Ruby and Weiss fought back to back in the thick of it, swinging and thrusting their weapons respectively.

Pyrrha however, had a different objective. She batted men aside with her weapon in spear form, as she kept her eyes on Royal, who was being slowly dragged away by the leader. The man seemed to be having trouble moving him. At first, she thought it was because he was dead weight, but as she watched, her realized that was more literal than she thought.

The leader quickly dropped the body in alarm as it began to swell unnaturally. The already broken body turned an ugly red before bursting explosively. Pyrrha threw up in her mouth at the sight of this, but quickly swallowed it down and powered forward, knowing what was to come next.

The leader however was not as resilient. Now covered in blood and guts, the man was frozen in place for a moment, before doubling over and retching his guts out. He was so busy doing that, that it took him a few moments to realize the much larger shadow enshrouding him.

He slowly looked up in horror to see, where his captive once was, a full grown Beowolf, unlike any he'd ever seen. It had all the spikes protruding from its back, shoulders and forearms, but unlike any he'd ever seen, it plated armor covering its chest and abdominals, as 3well as its arms and legs. The armor on its limbs looked light and flexible, and had gaps here and there to allow for flexibility. The spikes that usually protrude from the limbs now extended from the armor itself. And of course, all the armor, along with the mask, were a metallic silver color, eerily similar to the mask of the guy who just exploded.

The leader felt his heart RACE as the creature leaned down to level its elongated face with his. It then opened his mouth, surely to end the man's life in one bite. Despite having aura, he didn't have a lot, and was never trained to fight Grimm, instead using it for more sinister purposes.

As the man closed his eyes and waited for the end, something even more alarming happened. A deep, gravelly, and frankly unnatural sounding voice spoke, " _LEAVE!"_

The leader opened his eyes and stared at the Grimm in shock, "W-What?"

He then found himself hoisted off the ground by the creature's enormous hands and held up to its face, " _LEAVE VALE, OR I WILL RETURN!"_

Now granted, the criminal read the same message on the block of ice he was encased in before, and took no head of it, but that message wasn't delivered by a massive, armored, purple eyed Beowolf.

He quickly nodded his head, "Of course! As soon as possible! Please just don't kill me."

Royal growled one more time at them, before lifting him up with one hand and thrusting him towards the ground, effectively shattering his aura, his consciousness, and the ground beneath him.

With that finished with. He turned to find his classmates, having finished dealing with the thugs, staring at him in wonder.

At the center was Pyrrha who walked up to him, having to look up to make eye contact, "Hello Royal."

He looked at her for a moment before responding, " _PYRRHA…THANK YOU."_

"I thought you couldn't talk in that form…" Weiss stated, while trying very hard not to look at the pile of flesh he was standing next to.

Upon noticing this, Royal lumbered away from it, dragging the unconscious body of the leader with him, and went to inspect the thugs. " _COULDN'T, UNTIL NOW. STILL HURTS THROAT."_

Yang watched him guiltily as he sniffed one of the thugs before gathering him up in his arms, "I wanted to keep your secret Roy, but they insisted… I don't really regret it now though…"

He nodded, " _UNDERSTAND."_

" _I_ don't understand." Nora spoke up, "Why did you have to do this alone, it obviously didn't— _gulp—_ go well."

Royal began piling up the thugs in one pile in the middle of the warehouse. " _THIS WAS A TRAP. USUALLY SUCCESSFUL."_

"And you walked into it all by yourself." Pyrrha stated angrily, "You're lucky we made it in time! None of this would have happened if you had just told us!"

Royal looked at her carefully, " _I KNOW."_

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "Really? Then, why didn't you? Yang told us why you had to do this Roy, we wouldn't have judged you!"

Royal glanced at Yang, then looked back at Pyrrha, " _SCARED."_

That made the others blink, "Scared of what?" Ruby asked.

" _YOU WOULD THINK LESS OF ME IF YOU KNEW. IRRATIONAL."_ He finished explaining right after he tossed the leader onto the pile of unconscious bodies. He then walked to one of the walls and stared at it in thought.

Pyrrha looked at him sadly, still a bit angry, but now that she knew what was going through his head she understood a little. That's when Blake asked, "Are you going to change back anytime soon?"

Royal didn't look back, and pointed at his old body, " _NO CLOTHES."_

Blake just nodded in understanding while Weiss spoke slowly, 'What are you—ugh-going to do with that?" She pointed to the pile of guts while refusing to look directly at it, "We can't just leave it there."

" _WILL DEAL WITH IT."_ Royal answered, "JUST HEAD BACK TO BEACON, I WILL MEET YOU THERE."

"What?" Pyrrha asked, "You think we'll just leave you alone right now, after how we found you when we got here? We're taking you with us!"

He looked at her curiously, " _I'M A GRIMM, I WILL BE ATTACKED ON SIGHT. I CAN MAKE IT BACK ON MY OWN AFTER I CHANGE BACK."_

"What so you're going to go back naked?" Yang asked in disbelief. Royal simply nodded to her, _"FIRST I WILL DEAL WITH THIS… MESS. I DON'T THINK YOU WANT TO BE HERE FOR THAT_."

Most of them nodded in agreement, but Pyrrha was still determined, "I'm you're partner. I'll help you if you need it."

Royal felt his heart warm at that, and nodded, " _THANK YOU, BUT I DON'T NEED HELP. I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING WHEN I GET BACK. I SWEAR."_

Pyrrha sighed, "Fine. We'll go then. But take this." She pulled out his scroll and handed it out for him to take carefully from her hand, "If something happens, for the Brother's sake call us. Don't leave without it again.'

He nodded, choosing not to speak up on that. Pyrrha then turned and started marching out of the warehouse.

Everyone watched her go for a moment, before Blake whistled, "You really pissed her off."

"Not an easy feat." Ren commented, causing everyone to nod in agreement as Royal hung his head in shame.

He was brought out of it by Ruby who, much to his surprise, appeared hugging his thick neck in a flurry of rose petals, "Please get back safe."

He got over his shock and patted her on the back gently before she dropped down and joined the others on their way out. Nora looked back and winked, "Don't get caught now!"

"Unless you're into that." Yang called back suggestively, inciting a scythe attack from her sister. Soon they had all left, leaving Royal alone. He walked over to his disgusting pile of flesh and began his work, ensuring that the gang would get the message for sure this time.

When the thugs awoke, the first thing they'll see will be a message written in blood reading, "FEAR THE REAPER". Next to it, was a rough visage of a human skull, formed through pieces of Royal's intestines, with purple eyes fitted in the sockets.

Perhaps it was a little much, but Royal was beyond caring. He had so many things on his mind. Ranging from who their patron was that gifted them such an elaborate trap, to how the conversation ahead was going to go. Not only that, but being in the Beowolf form seemed to make him immune to the disgusting nature of his work, something he was vaguely aware of, and greatly disturbed by. Of course he would return the following day to remove the intestines, wouldn't want that winding up in the wrong hands.

He gathered the rest, or at least as much as he could find, and stuffed it into several trash bags, before dumping them in a garbage bin, making sure to wrap the bags in multiple layers to avoid leakage.

With that taken care of, he focused on his human form, and returned to human form, but not before examining his Beowolf body with interest. At first, he wasn't sure if the chest and abdominal armor was something that developed with his age, but the addition of the armored limbs in such a short time confirmed that I was something else. The chest armor appeared right after he was stabbed in the chest, and the armored limbs happened after his arms and legs were rendered useless via gunshots. He was beginning to believe that it was reacting to the injuries of his old body. the two forms definitely had some form of connection.

This was further supported when he returned to human form, and found that the enhanced hearing that came with is Grimm form was still with him. Just like his sense of smell and sight. Another bonus was that his scars and sting marks had all vanished with the disposal of his old body

As much as he wanted to worry about that, he had to instead deal with getting back to Beacon in his birthday suit without being seen.

Just getting out of Vale was a challenge, but is new enhanced earing was quite useful. It didn't take him as long as he thought it would to adjust to the sounds. He utilized it to know when it was safe to move forward, and when someone was too close.

Once he had made it to the woods however he was able to breathe easy, for a time.

PRN and RWBY however, were holding their breaths in anticipation. They had just arrived back on beacon grounds, but instead of sneaking back to their dorms all stealthy-like, they stepped off the bullhead to find Professor Ozpin himself standing in front of them, with an eyebrow raised, and a coffee mug in his hand, "Hello students. Shall I even dare to ask what has you all up so late? "

They all looked at each other then back at him "Just a late-night walk through Vale?" Yang suggested, though not at all convincingly.

Ozpin smirked, "Really? With your weapons?"

They all tensed up at that comment. Pyrrha was the first one to sigh and say, "We were helping out a friend Professor, I'm sorry I can't say more than that."

A few of the others looked at Pyrrha in disbelief as she basically told Ozpin that she wasn't going to tell him where they were, but the headmaster simply shrugged, "Very well, I won't ask the details, but I do have to ask, is Mr. Belladonna alright?"

Ruby winced, "How did you know?"

He chuckled, "My dear I have cameras at every exit to the school grounds. I know when someone is infiltrating or sneaking out. Now, is he safe? Or will he have to undergo a slight change?"

The added meaning behind that, which caused the students to shiver at the memory of Royal's increasingly intimidating form, "He did have to change," Pyrrha stated sadly, "But he's alright now. He's going to head back soon, but he was hoping to do so undetected because…"

Ozpin looked at her, "Because of what?"

"He's naked sir." Ruby stated, with a tinge of red on her face, "His clothes got messed up again."

Ozpin frowned for a moment, before letting out another chuckle, "Well I suppose we'll have to find a way to deal with that in the future. Worry not girls, we'll make sure he gets back to his dorm with little issue.

"We?" Pyrrha asked.

He nodded, "Indeed, now why don't you all go to your dorms and get some sleep. You do have class tomorrow after all."

The students happily walked past the headmaster towards their dorms. Of course, they would stay up waiting for Royal to return, but Ozpin frankly didn't care.

He was more preoccupied, thinking about how the interaction will go between Royal and the one he sent to retrieve him. He almost pitied the boy at the thought.

Royal felt a shiver as he walked through the forest, working on building his Aura back up. Walking through the woods buck naked wasn't as horrible as he had expected. Of course, there was the occasional insect landing places where bugs should not be landing, but otherwise it was sort of liberating. As that thought went through his brain, he hoped that his beastly side wasn't affecting him to become a nudist.

His thoughts were cut short as he suddenly felt his body held still, and lifted into the air. He began to panic, as he watched Goodwitch emerge from the trees in front of him, "Glynda?"

She pushed her glasses up and huffed, "I don't believe we are on a first name basis."

He blinked, "I believe we've blown past like ten bases at this point." He nodded down to his naked form, eliciting a sneer form the professor as she waved her riding crop. From behind her a pair of pants and a shirt flew forward and attached themselves to Royal, zipping up the paints before she released the man. He fell to the ground silently as he looked at her suspiciously, "How did you sneak up on me? That shouldn't be possible…"

She raised an eyebrow, "Really? Because of your "Grimm powers"? Boy I am a trained huntress, I've mastered the art of concealing my presence from the Grimm's superior senses. Now come on, we should get back to Beacon as soon as possible.'

As she turned and made her way through the woods, Royal followed cautiously, "Yeah… wait! How did you even find me?"

She didn't look back, "We never lost you. Did you really think we would lose track of such a dangerous creature like yourself?"

Royal blinked, before murmuring, "Kind of… So you've been keeping tabs on me? Do you know what I've been up to?"

"Of course."

"And you did nothing to stop me?"

She froe and looked at the boy dangerously, "Were it up to me, several measures would be taken to stop you from doing anything, but Ozpin deemed your actions excusable, for whatever reason. That being said, we won't stand for footage of you entering beacon with nothing but a smile coming into existence."

Royal nodded thoughtfully as she continued to walk towards beacon, "Fair enough…"

They eventually reached the Academy, at which point Royal made a beeline for the dorms, only to stop as Glynda cleared her throat, "Ozpin wishes to see you."

"Now?" He asked, "I kind of have people waiting for me…"

"'They can wait a little longer," Goodwitch replied coldly, "Now."

Royal sighed and glared at her as he followed her up to Ozpin's office.

Once they reached the office, Royal approached the desk irritated. "You wanted to see me?"

Ozpin nodded seriously, "I did. You've been here for a while now, and I think we're finally ready to take the next step.

Royal looked between him and Glynda uncomfortably, "What do you mean by that?"

Ozpin folded his hands in his lap, "We claim that we are in "an unprecedented era of peace". In reality, this is not true. The conflict has just shifted away from the public eye."

His student nodded, "That sound about right. What about it?"

Ozpin leaned forward. "I have… an assignment for you. let's call it an extracurricular. Tell me, have you ever heard the story of the four maidens?"

 **Elsewhere.**

Roman sighed as he watched the video yet again for any sign of something he missed, but once again he found nothing of use. It seems helping that small-time group with the Grimm Reaper was a waste of time.

"Any updates?" A sultry voice caused Roman to nearly leap out of his seat. He looked back to see his employer, Cinder Fall, walking through the door behind him. He was currently set up in a small office inside their secret hideout, running over the footage he received from the camera those idiots set up. He told them it would broadcast live on the internet, but that was only to feed their egos. Doing so would be tactically stupid.

He sat back in his chair, fiddling with his beloved hat miserably, and wishing Neo was around to cheer him up. Sadly, however she was off on a job for Cinder.

As he thought that, a chilling sound caused him to jump in his seat, "Roman…"

He turned to see his employer approaching him with her sultry walk, that belied an ironically cold heart and deadly power. She leaned on his chair as she looked at the video, "Find anything?"

Roman sighed, "No, the idiots couldn't even get his mask off. They didn't even bother to search his body for any other identifying marks. All we have is that he is covered in stings and scars and if he's smart, he'll deal with that quickly, one way or another.

Cinder stood up straight with a sigh Roman had been conditioned to dread, "Roman, Roman, Roman... How many dust robberies has the "Grimm Reaper" thwarted for you?"

Roman grimaced. Over the past few days, his smaller dust operations had experienced a series of interruptions, from the skull wearing vigilante. The confusing part was that the attacks seemed completely random, some jobs going fine with no interruptions, while others were put to a stop brutally and efficiently. It was if the man was simply stumbling upon the robberies.

"You don't need to remind me." Roman growled, "If not for those idiots, he would still be caught, but they had to take their time torturing him. Though I must say his capacity for pain is quite impressive."

Cinder raised an eyebrow, "Noted. Worry not dear, you don't have to fret about him anymore?"

Roman looked at her in surprise, "Really? Has he been caught?"

"He will be. I brought someone new to take care of him." Cinder declared.

Roman turned his chair around to face her and ask who, but his question was answered when he saw a new figure standing in the doorway. He could tell they were female by their form, that was covered in a form fitting black suit, but anything else was up for debate. Their face was completely covered with a haunting mask, that looked to be ripped straight off an Arachnoid Grimm, with all of the eyeholes covered up by dark red lenses, two of which he assumed she could see out of. Her hair was also encased in some strange black cloth, that wrapped around her head, though thick bundles hung around her neck. Over all the outfit was both intimidating, and sexy in a very weird kinky sort of way that Roman would deny ever feeling.

He looked at Cinder uncertainly, "A new recruit?"

She smiled sinisterly, "No. She is far more than that."

The girl walked forward and leaned down to look at Roman curiously, greatly creeping him out with her mask. After a moment however, he felt his hat get lifted off his head. he looked up in alarm to see one of the black bundles had extended far from her head and wrapped around the hat, like some sort of tentacle. He reached up to take it, mostly out of instinct, but was stopped when the rest of her hair tentacle things shot forward and pinned him in his chair.

As she examined the hat with interest, Cinder smiled down at Roman, who was still pinned, "She's very talented, as you can see. What she wants, she gets, and now," Roman's eyes widened in horror as the girl seemed to get bored with the hat and tossed it to the ground. She let go of him and walked out the door, allowing him to rush to his hat and scoop it off the floor, brushing it off gently and lovingly, before he put it on and looked up to watch her go, walking with more confidence than Cinder, if such a thing were even possible, "Now she wants the Reaper."

 **Chapter 12**


	13. Chapter 13

Royal POV 

I sighed as I was dragged through Vale by my female comrades. The only one who could possibly feel my pain was Ren, if he hadn't weaseled his way out of this.

I can't say I'm surprised ever since my incident they had been reluctant to let me out of their sight. So, when team RWBY had plans to go to vale today, they graciously invited Nora, Pyrrha and I to come along with them.

It's not like I'm complaining however, as did enjoy all of their company, though it was a bit annoying when I emerged from the bathroom to find one of them waiting outside as if I was going to sneak out the bathroom window (it was usually Pyrrha).

Whenever this happened however, I simply reminded myself how lucky I was to have them as friends. After I had explained to the group about my past with the criminals of vale, they didn't' waste a second assuring me that they didn't think any less of me. They accepted immediately, give or take a few questions regarding what I was involved in.

So I didn't mind constantly being surrounded by women. Though I was certain that every other guy at Beacon was furious at me for it. Seriously if they liked one of them they should just go for it, don't blame me needlessly because you're too scared to talk to a girl.

Although it's possible they were angry at me for different reasons. I, along with my team, have been dominating the combat arena, and training rooms whenever we went in our free time. I've been getting much better using Spartan and Reaper. General combat was fairly easy with them, be it against one opponent or many, their adjustable range was incredibly useful. What I was focused on was developing special moves and techniques. These I tested against my teammates and Team RWBY, since we were the two top teams of the first years.

But I'm getting off topic. I now found myself walking along Vale's, now colorfully decorated streets, alongside Pyrrha and Nora as Team RWBY walked a pace ahead.

Weiss looked at all the decorations being set up in awe, "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss… it's kind of weirding me out." Ruby commented.

I snorted, "Quiet Ruby, don't ruin it, we don't know how long it will last." This elicited a soft giggle from Ruby and many of the other girls, as well as a sharp glare from Weiss.

To my surprise it disappeared just as quickly, and she returned to admiring the streets, "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and preparation that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

Yang sighed, "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"I actually have to agree with Weiss here." Pyrrha spoke up, also causing Weiss to perk up, "I participated in several of Mistral's regional tournaments, and bore witness to the fine planning and preparation such events require to succeed. Something of this scale… it's quite admirable."

Weiss beamed while Yang looked at Pyrrha in disbelief, "Come on! I thought you were cool!"

Pyrrha looked genuinely hurt by this until Weiss grabbed her arm tightly, "Don't listen to her Pyrrha, _she_ just isn't cool enough to see how cool _we_ are!"

Nora whistled, "Sweet burn."

"Quiet you!" Yang hissed, though chuckled afterwards, letting everyone know she was just joking around.

I watched the interaction with amusement, as we walked along, but stopped dead in my tracks when a certain smell hit my nose.

The others noticed this, "Roy? Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked. everyone was confused at my look of disgust. I however, was confused that Blake practically had stars in her eyes.

That's when the smell hit the others. Ruby was the first to pinch her nose, "Ew! Why are we

even going to the stupid docks anyways? I can smell the dead fish from here!"

"I heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. As a student of Beacon, I feel it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom.

Blake snorted, "She wants to spy on the competition so we have an edge in the tournament.

"You can't prove that!"

"Whoa…" Ruby commented as she spotted a dust shop down the street, covered in police tape."

I raised an eyebrow, "Another dust robbery?"

The others looked at me in confusion, so I explained, "When I was on my... night trips, I came across a lot of thugs robbing dust shops. I put a stop to most of them, but the weird thing is almost all of them were leaving the money alone."

"So, someone's collecting dust?" Ruby surmised, "What for?"

I was curious as well, and as I looked at Ruby, my thoughts wandered back to my meeting with Ozpin and Goodwitch

" _So, you're telling me there are for women in the world at any given time that have magical elemental powers?" I asked._

" _Yes." Ozpin stated simply._

" _And there's also this evil Grimm Queen who's intelligent as us, and is working to capture and control all the maidens?"_

" _Indeed."_

 _I leaned back in the chair across from his, as Ozpin studied me from his desk and Goodwitch stood by his side. "I guess I only have one question left for you."_

 _Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what would that be?"_

" _What the fuck have you been smoking? And where can I get some?"_

" _That was two questions."_

 _Goodwitch leaned forward with her usual glare, "You really question the existence of such things? You're example enough that there are things in this world that defy all logic!"_

 _I narrowed my eyes at her before turning my attention back to Ozpin, who was as calm as ever. "Say you're not crazy, that all of this is true and you guys are the silent protectors of the world. Why tell me? I take it you keep all this quiet because knowing would cause mass panic, and mass panic will attract Grimm."_

 _Ozpin smirked and nodded, "That is exactly right. As unfortunate as it is, we must keep our charges happy and oblivious if we have any hope of keeping them safe. As for why I'm telling you: Your skills are quite unique and have great potential. I'd even go far as to say that you may be the turning point in this war."_

 _Goodwitch snorted at that, while Ozpin and I both ignored her. I was thoughtful for a moment before continuing, "But I'm still a student. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm still landing. I don't know how well I'd fare against enemies with the training and experience of a hunter. Are you that desperate?"_

 _Ozpin leaned back, "Everything you say is true. You may or may not be ready for a fight with the Queens pawns. Personally, I believe you'd fair better than most people of your age. Luckily for you, I'm not asking you to fight them. For now, I'm asking you to guard someone."_

 _I was actually taken aback by that, "Uh… okay. Who?"_

 _He smiled even wider, "Someone you know very well already…"_

I snapped myself out of my daydream as I stared at Ruby. The headmaster of Beacon himself asked me to keep her safe, as apparently her silver eyes had some sort of value in the long run. I tried to get him to tell me what, but all I could get out of him was assurance that it didn't involve scooping them out of her sockets or harming her in any way, not that that was entirely reassuring.

"Maybe it's that Torchwick guy," Yang suggested, "The one you fought a few months ago?"

Ruby hummed, "Maybe… I don't think the cops caught him yet…"

Suddenly our attention was drawn to the docks when someone yelled, "Stop that Faunus!"

We turned to see a blonde monkey Faunus running from a boat, with two crewmen hot on his heels. He managed to parkour his way up and out of their reach, hanging from his tail and eating a banana of all things while the crewman yelled at him, "You no-good stowaway!"

He seemed offended by this, "A no-good stowaway would have been caught! I'm a GREAT stowaway!"

The policemen showed up on the docks as well as we all watched the interaction. As we did, Weiss hummed, "You know, it could be the White Fang behind it."

Blake and I both tensed. I growled at her, "Weiss, I swear to the Brothers if you're back on that— "

"Relax!" She snapped, "I'm not pointing fingers or calling names! I'm just saying they are a radical—" She glanced at Blake, "—incredibly _misguided_ group! It wouldn't be entirely strange if it turned out to be them…"

No one could really argue with that, no matter how much they wanted to. The group took a moment to consider this before thoughts were once again interrupted by someone shouting, "Get down here this instant!"

I turned to see the Faunus being glared at by two Policemen while he finished his banana. In response to their demand, the boy tossed the empty peel directly onto the cop's face.

As the man shook in anger, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, earning sharp looks from most of the girls, "What? You can't tell me that wasn't funny!"

They didn't have a chance to respond as the boy was suddenly sprinting past us, though I swear to the Brothers that when he passed Blake, he turned towards her and gave a wink, before sprinting off.

Yang patted Weiss on the back, "Well Weiss, there goes your competition."

The heiress' eyes widened, "Quick! We have to observe him!"

Team RWBY immediately sprinted after the Faunus with Nora following them with her trademark psychotic laughter, leaving me and Pyrrha behind to watch them in amusement as they rounded the corner. After a moment, I was surprised by a slight snort coming from the champion, followed by her breaking out into laughter.

I couldn't help but smile as I asked, "What's gotten into you?"

She gathered herself enough to respond, "Everything that just happened!"

My eyes widened, "Even…"

She smiled coyly," Yes even the banana."

I fist pumped, "I knew it! Wait till the others hear, I can't wait to rub it into their judgmental faces!"

My enthusiasm died when Pyrrha shrugged and said, "I never said I'd admit it to them."

I gave her a heartbroken look, "B-but you're my partner!"

She hummed innocently, "True, but you still lied to me for weeks on end."

I groaned, "Really, "You're _still_ mad about that?"

She twisted towards me in disbelief, only to stop when she noticed the mischievous look on my face. She sighed before giving in to the trend, "As a matter of fact I _am_. And I don't feel as if you've made up for it yet…"

I raised an eyebrow, "Is that right? And what exactly would be making it up to you entail?"

She smirked back, "I guess you'll have figure that out for yourself."

She then twirled away from me and marched towards where the others ran off, not even noticing that her ponytail slapped me in the face in the process.

I quickly spat the hair out, and tried very hard not to think about how soft it was, before watching her walk away, staring for a little too long, thinking about her words, before shaking myself out of it and joining her in the search for the others, albeit a bit dazed.

I rounded the corner only to find Pyrrha watching the end of the encounter between Nora, team RWBY and some ginger haired girl with an enthusiastic smile. I was about to ask what was going on when something made me freeze.

As I sniffed the air, I could find no trace of a scent other than the girls I knew. When I listened closely, I could hear the heartbeats of 6 girls, when there were clearly seven in the street. It was like the girl wasn't there at all, despite the fact that she obviously was.

I was beginning to think I was crazy when I noticed the confused expression on Pyrrha's face as well. As the girl said her goodbyes and walked away from the group, I whispered to her, "Did you notice something off about her?"

She looked at me in surprise, "So you did as well?"

I nodded, "She had no scent, not heartbeat… I'm pretty sure those things can be disguised with enough training, but she looked our age. What did you notice?"

She looked back at the girl walking away, "It was my semblance actually, it allows me to have a general sense of the metal objects in proximity. I felt something from her… like a high concentration of metallic objects, but I couldn't see any on her. either she's concealing them very well or…" She trailed off and looked at me

"It's inside her…" I finished. There was a moment of silence before we both started to laugh nervously, not wanting to face the possibility of random robot or cyborg girls roaming the streets.

The five girls approached us with weird expressions, "Who was that?" I asked.

"Penny…" Ruby said in a daze, "She was… nice."

"She was weird." Weiss corrected.

"Don't you think you could be a little nicer?" Blake asked, "You were the one who ran into her."

Weiss frowned but didn't have a retort before Nora exclaimed, "She was awesome! I think we really clicked you know? She's nice, funny, and to top it off she's also going to be in the tournament! Oooh I want to fight her so bad!"

Everyone took a step back from the hammer wielder, as she was practically vibrating with excitement. That was when Pyrrha asked, "What happened to the Faunus guy?"

Weiss' eyes widened in realization, "He got away! Darn it!"

The others simply shrugged it off and moved on, but with my enhanced hearing I could make out Weiss mumbling under her breath, "He probably ran straight to the White fang's hideout too…"

"Okay!" I exclaimed, getting everyone's attention, "That's it, no more talking for you today wises."

She looked at me in surprise, "But I— "

"A-A-A! Enhanced hearing remembe?"

"What did she say?" Ruby asked.

I shrugged, "Just your typical prejudgment garbage she was raised with."

Weiss glared, "I'll have you— "

"Nope." I stopped her.

"But— "

"Zip!"

"I don't-– "

"Skipidibopildo!" I exclaimed."

"Hey getting a little scatty there, aren't you?" Yang observed with a smirk.

I grinned, "You know I almost thought about being one when I was little."

Weiss now had her arms folded and a pouty look on her face. "Oh, don't give me that. It's the only way you'll learn. I annoy because I care."

She let me know exactly what she thought of this with a very rude hand gesture before storming off in the direction of the bullheads, apparently done enjoying the festiveness of the town.

The ride bac k to beacon was fairly enjoyable, to all but Weiss. Everyone had eventually joined in on the game, waiting eagerly for Weiss to pipe up so they could interrupt her. unfortunately, Weiss had quickly decided not to give us the chance and gone silent, aside from the occasional attempt at an apology, which in hindsight we probably should have listened to instead of making random animal noises until she went quiet again.

We went our separate ways in the dorms. Pyrrha, Nora, and I opened our door to find Ren sitting comfortably on his bed, reading something on his Scroll and looking more relaxed than I had ever seen him. Nora burst through first and shouted, "Renny! We're back! Did you miss me?"

After nearly having a heart attack form her sudden intrusion, Ren looked at her for a moment, before sighing and replying, "Yes Nora."

Nora squealed adorably and rushed to his side to tell them all that had happened, while Pyrrha and I glanced at each other knowingly, both wondering when those two were going to get together already.

Other than that, it was a typical night. Everyone took turns in the bathroom. I lovingly set up my coat in the closet, making sure there were no other clothes touching it, possibly messing up its pristine wrinkle free look that takes nearly an hour to accomplish each night.

When I was finished I looked over to see Pyrrha polishing her weapon carefully, as she did every night. I couldn't help but ask. "Is that… really necessary?"

She looked up I confusion, "What?"

I went over and sat on my bed while still facing her, "Cleaning your weapon every night. I don't have a problem with it, I'm just curious. I clean Reaper and Spartan once a week, I'm starting to wonder if I'm neglecting them."

Her eyes widened, "Oh… well I don't think you are. Once a week should be plenty to keep them in top shape, especially with how well-crafted they are. Miló here is a bit more complicated. It has three different forms so there's more moving parts to take care of. Still, I could probably get away with once a week as well, but my family sort of ingrained this habit into me."

I raised an eyebrow, "Like… in a bad way?"

She smiled and shook her head, "No. The idea behind it is spending more time with it will increase my effectiveness in battle, similar to why people name their weapons."

I snorted, "I'd say it's pretty damn effective."

Her cheeks flushed a bit but she still continued. "Now… doing it helps me feel closer to them I guess. I've never really been so far from home before… sometimes I…'

"Miss them." I surmised, earning a nod from her, "I get it."

She smiled gratefully, before expression became unreadable. She looked up at me again, "Roy I— "

The dorm room suddenly slammed open, revealing Team RWBY in their nightwear, with Yang in front, "Guys!"

Pyrrha and I jumped about ten feet in the air, while Nora simply looked up from her spot away from us. I was slightly thankful that Ren was still in the shower, he didn't deserve a second jump scare.

I frowned in irritation, "Haven't you guys ever heard of knocking?"

Yang smirked, "Oh please, what are we gonna see? Unless your team is a bit more "fun" than I thought…"

"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, now red faced along with everyone else in the room, "Quit being gross!" She looked at us, "We were thinking of doing something… interesting, and wanted to talk to you guys about it first, see what you think. Could your team come to our dorm?"

Pyrrha and Nora looked at me, reminding me that I was in fact the team leader, so I nodded, "Sure. We'll be over as soon as Ren is out of the shower, but promise me this isn't some sort of prank?"

Blake spoke up, "This is serous Royal. You have my word."

I nodded to her, and they returned back to their dorms, leaving me to sigh and turn back to Pyrrha, "It's always something with those guys. Anyways you were about to say something, right?"

She looked hesitant, "Actually it was nothing, just a stupid question. I remembered the answer now."

I raised an eyebrow, "Really? Okay then."

Once Ren was washed and dressed, we headed over to Team RWBY's dorm to see what they wanted to talk about. I opened the door to see Them sitting in their bunks. Ruby and Yang looked very uncomfortable as Weiss and Blake were having a screaming match with one another.

They were too off the rails for me to figure out what was going on, so I simply yelled, "Hey!"

I made it loud enough that they stopped arguing and looked at me. with my team behind me I asked, "I thought you wanted to talk to us about something, not deafen us! Also, Weiss, who said you could talk again?"

That seemed to do it for the heiress, who was visibly shaking with rage. I quickly ushered my team in and shut the door behind us, so everyone in the dorm couldn't hear as she shouted, "Would you be serious for one second and talk some sense into this idiot?!"

Blake scoffed, "I'm the idiot? You're the one who can't see the big picture here!"

Weiss stood up, "Oh I can see the picture! One where one of us get killed doing something stupid!"

"Maybe you two should take a breath," Ren suggested, "and start with telling us what this is all about."

Neither seemed happy about that, but shut up and sat down while Ruby spoke up, "We were talking about the dust robberies from earlier, wondering what could have done it. Weiss brought up her theory that it was the White Fang— "

"Stupid." Blake muttered

"—and they've been arguing over whether or not we should find out ourselves."

I blinked, "Find out ourselves?"

"Like an investigation?" Nora asked with rising enthusiasm.

I looked at Blake, "Why would we need to go to such lengths? Whether it's the White Fang or someone else that's a job for the authorities." Her brow furrowed when I mentioned the white fang, causing me to sigh, "Blake, as much as I'd also hate to admit it, Weiss is right. It could very well be them."

"That's why I want to be sure!" The cat Faunus snapped.

"Why?" Yang asked her partner. "Why is it so important!"

"Because—"Blake stopped herself as she realized how loud she was getting. She took a deep breath before continuing in an indoor voice, "Because… I was one of them. A part of me always will be. I know a lot of people who are still there. Whatever they're doing, it could cause trouble for both Faunus," she looked at Weiss, "And humans. I might be uniquely qualified to help prevent it."

The room was silent for a moment as everyone mulled over her words, before I broke the silence. "I'm in."

Blake looked up at me hopefully, While Weiss frowned, "Seriously?"

I rolled my eyes, "She's right. She is in a unique position, and so am I. so are all of us. We are the best teams in our class, and that's just from using our own power and skill in the ring. We have our aura control to back it up."

"We can only do a few things…" Yang commented.

"That's a few more things than anyone else can do. Not only that but they sure as hell won't be expecting us. I say we go, find out if it is the Fang. If it isn't, we let the police handle item but if it is, we put a stop to whatever plans they have. Protecting the people is part of what it means to be Hunters and Huntress' right?"

As I looked around during my speech, I could see the others gradually agreeing to the idea, nodding their heads and getting pumped up. At my last line, many of them gave a resounding, "YEAH!" but one voice gave a clear, "NO!"

I looked back at Pyrrha in shock, While Nora whispered "Uh, Pyrrha, I'm pretty sure it is— "

"I don't care!" The champion exclaimed, before walking up to me and poking a finger into my chest, "I'm not letting _you_ go out there and get hurt again when it's absolutely unnecessary."

My eyes widened, "Pyrrha I— "

"No!" She reiterated, "End of story, not happening."

At that blatant order to shut up, I felt a heat burn in my chest, "Excuse me? I'm pretty sure I'm the team leader here!"

"You're also the guy who was stupid enough to get caught and tortured for hours!"

"That was _one_ time! The _only_ time I've messed like that. And if worse comes to worse it's not like I'll— "

"Die?" Pyrrha asked, "Maybe not. But do you think watching your body get mutilated and destroyed every time you change into that thing is any better for us?"

We were now inches from one another, my slightly superior height having me glare down at her, "I'll be fine. You can't just treat me like a— "

I stopped there, in the middle of yelling, but not because of any outside interference. I actually ran her previous words through my brain and realized what she meant. I couldn't ask them all to watch me be destroyed over and over again like nothing happened. But still…

I took a deep breath and spoke much calmer, "Pyrrha. We are going to be Hunters and Huntress'. That job comes a lot of responsibilities, and among them is dealing with the fact that any one of us could die at any moment. Or, in my case, I could be forced to take that new form. Don't get me wrong, I understand where you're coming from. You care about me, and the rest of the team, I appreciate that. We all do, but we also need you to trust us as well. I won't let myself get hurt like that again, and I trust that neither will you… should you choose to come with us."

Gradually I could see Pyrrha calming down, albeit reluctantly at the end it was all she could do to keep up her stubborn glare as he mumbled, "fine…"

I smiled and pulled her into a hug, "There see? I knew you'd understand reason."

"I still haven't agreed to this!" Weiss exclaimed

I looked around and asked, "Show of hands, who all is in this?"

One by one everyone raised their hands except Weiss. After a moment of silence, she growled loudly and raised her hand as well.

"We should think of a plan though." Ren state, to which we all agreed."

"We can't just search Bale until we find something," Ruby commented, "We need to look for clues and leads."

Nora squealed, "I feel like I'm in a Hank Blonde movie!"

"Roy and I could go check out Juniors?" Yang suggested, but I shook my head.

"If Junior knew something he would have done something about it by now. I'm fairly certain he hates the fact that someone is acting in the city without his consent."

Yang slumped, "Well I'm out of ideas then."

"That's okay." I said with a growing smile. "I have one."

 **The next day**

"Ugh! Why are we back here!" Ruby whined, "it smells awful!"

"I have to agree with ruby." Pyrrha said, "what is the point of coming here?"

I was currently leading, Ruby Pyrrha, and Blake along the docks. I would have brought the others as well but an entire two teams missing from beacon would have been suspicious, even to the other students. Plus, I didn't think a big group would be very good where we were going."

"You still haven't told us where that is…" Blake said in mild annoyance."

I simply remained silent as I led them down to the ground next to the docks, much to the girls' displeasure. "We're going _closer_ to the smell?"

I frowned. It wasn't often that Ruby Rose could annoy me, she's usually so sweet and cheerful, but now she was getting on my nerves. I kept my cool however, knowing it was all due to her ignorance.

They all quieted down when I led them deep under the dock structure, where several dozen people were set up with tents, sleeping bags, and fires with contraptions set up over them to contain the smoke.

Pyrrha was the first to speak, "There are… homeless people living under the docks of Vale?"

I nodded, "Sometimes. They move to different locations periodically, or when someone catches them."

"Catches them?" Ruby asked."

I smiled sadly, "Nobody wants a bunch of homeless bums living around them, it might make them 'depressed'. So, whenever they're found, at least one person is sure to call the authorities to clear them out."

"What!" Ruby and Pyrrha exclaimed while Blake looked on knowingly. She spoke up, "It's not fair, but even if they have nowhere to go, it's technically illegal for them to 'loiter' around freely. I've heard about it from some of the Faunus in the White Fang."

Sure, enough there were several Faunus among the crowd, though they were noticeably more disheveled than the humans. Blake explained this simply. "The police like to be especially brutal to them."

There was an awkward moment of silence, before I walked forward and yelled, "What's up ya lazy fucks!"

I could feel the looks of shock and disbelief coming from the girls behind me, which was intensified when all of the vagrants turned to me and yelled back, "FUCK YOU ROYAL!"

I only snickered and turned back to the girls frozen in shock, "Come on, don't just stand there."

Ruby was the first to zip forward and turn her face away from the crowd as she asked me, "What was _that?_ "

I shrugged, "It's just how we greet each other." I looked at the others, "Coming?"

The shook themselves out of it and followed me as I led them through the camp. As we walked Pyrrha asked ,"Why do you know these people?" 

"I used to be homeless remember? Before Junior took me in I had to sleep somewhere, and this was the safest place. Plus…"

Ruby spoke up "Why do those pudding cups look so familiar?"

The girls looked at me accusingly, causing me to rub the back of my head sheepishly, "I occasionally sneak into the kitchen at Beacon and snag a few crates." I rolled my eyes when they gave me a look, "Oh relax. Every meal is like an all you can eat buffet if you hadn't noticed. The school has more food then they know what to do with. They won't notice a few things going missing. And it's going to a good cause." I gestured to the people surrounding us.

As we walked, a few of them nodded to me or said hi. I reciprocated with a nod or saying hi back. A lot of them I knew by name, but others were new. After a moment Pyrrha spoke up. "Okay… I guess I can understand your who are we going to see? And why are we going to see them?"

I chuckled, "Listen closely girls. You're looking at the best information gathering system in the city. These guys go all over the city to beg. No one gives them a second thought, and no one cares if they see something, because who's going to believe a homeless guy'? if they don't have a lead for us, I doubt anyone will. Right now, we're going to see a fiend of junior and I, named Marlow. He makes everyone's business his… business…."

I slowed to a stop as I spotted Marlow sitting by his tent. The man was wiry at a glance, but this was misleading, as he could deal out some heavy damage in a pinch. He had messy dark green hair and orange eyes. He had an incredibly annoying grin on at all times, and looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was dressed in the same rags as everyone around him. however, I was less concerned about him at the moment, and more about the one sitting next to him.

"Isn't that the Faunus from earlier?" Blake wondered aloud."

The blonde teen was indeed the same from before, and looked to be having a great time chatting with Marlow. I wasn't sure what to think of this, but didn't see anything wrong with it, yet.

I walked forward, "Marlow."

The man looked up at me with his grin, "Royal! I was wondering when you'd get here. And I see you brought a few young ladies with you. finally taking my advice I see?"

I felt my face heat up as Pyrrha asked, "What advice?"

"It's not— "

Marlow sat up uncharacteristically straight and put a fist to his chest, "Nothing in life is more important than the company of a good woman, or women in some cases. This boy never seemed to get the truth behind it, always caught up in his mad search. It's wonderful to see that' he's come around!"

The air was so awkward at that moment, that no one could say a word. No one that is, except for the monkey boy, "Hey, don't I know you guys?"

Not daring to look back at the girls I exclaimed, "It's not like that Marlow! They're my friends and teammates not… I'm not like that!"

The man slumped back against his tent with a sigh, "I figured. It's a damn shame kid. With your looks, and that mane of yours, you could probably get more poon than me."

I resisted the urge to gag. "Can we stop talking about this? I have something important to ask you!"

He leaned forward with his grin back on, "Fine. Whatdaya want to know?"

I explained to him our situation, despite the girls' warnings, well Blake's warnings. Ruby and Pyrrha were still beside themselves with Marlow's brashness. I assured them that Marlow was able to be trusted, in some situations. I was also wary of what I said with the new guy, but he didn't seem to be paying too close attention to me for some reason.

When I was done, he stroked his chin in thought, despite not even having stubble, which was strange in comparison to his hairy comrades, "I've been watching these guys for a while trying to find a pattern. Unfortunately, kid, I haven't had any luck."

We all slumped in defeat at that. I was about to thank him anyways when he continued, "lucky for you, this boy here learned something interesting on his ride here. Tell him kid."

The Faunus had to be nudged, as he seemed to have been caught up looking at Blake, very blatantly in fact. I didn't say anything about it yet, and let him start his explanation. "Okay so I overheard these guys talking about an incoming shipment…"

 **Chapter 13!**

 **This took longer than expected. What can I say, I have a job finally and also I'm lazy.**


End file.
